Your Adventure In Neverland
by Gracie Jane
Summary: I got bored, then I remembered I'm an author, so I thought: Why not go to Neverland? And I might as well take some friends, right? I think this is complete.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: Peter Pan and all the characters, places, and etc. contained therein belong to someone that isn't me. I'm making no money from this, so leave me alone, you mean lawyers, you! 

The girls stumble upstairs to Anders Orphanage's long, cold bedroom. It's nearly one in the morning; they've been sewing a rush order of dresses since noon.  
"I can't feel my fingers," one says drowsily. "Is that bad?"  
"Try putting them under your armpits," her friend advises. "That works for me."  
Gracie sighs and rubs her exhausted eyes. Too many hours of squinting over a sewing machine have definitely caught up with her. She wants nothing more than to go to sleep.  
As the others get into bed shivering Gracie finds that one of the younger girls is in her bunk.  
"Madeline," she says tiredly, "what are you doing? Why are you still awake?"  
"I'm waiting for tonight's story," Madeline says. "You promised you'd tell us one!"  
All throughout the room girls Madeline's age nod vigorously.  
"But Mads, I said that before we got the order of dr.never mind," Gracie caves in, defeated by Madeline's pleading expression. "Who do you want to hear about tonight? King Arthur? Sleeping Beauty?" This is just a tradition Gracie has with the girls; they ask for stories about the same boy every night.  
"Peter Pan!" the girls chorus.  
"Well, fine." Gracie gets under the blanket next to Madeline and begins to tell a story. "Once upon a time Peter Pan decided it would be nice to have a dog," she says, looking at her one piece of jewelry - a ring made of thread and a green wooden button. After the first story she told about Peter Pan one of the girls found the button on the windowsill and it was collectively decided amongst the younger girls that Peter himself must have left if there for her. Most nights another button appeared until there was one for every girl in the orphanage, and whenever a new girl comes before long there's one for her too. Try as they might to stay awake nobody has ever seen who put the buttons on the windowsill.  
"But not just any dog would do for a boy as clever as Peter, oh no. He wanted to tame a wolf!" The little girls gasp. "Especially since Wendy had managed to while she visited Neverland. Only Peter had forgotten to ask her how she did it, so now he would have to manage on his own."  
The girls snuggle into their thin mattresses as best they can and get swept up in the narrative, lovingly touching their green wooden buttons. Even the girls Gracie's age, sixteen, and older enjoy the story - anything to take their minds off cold bones and empty stomachs. By the time Gracie is finished Peter has managed to catch a wolf and tame him by convincing him that he's a puppy.  
"Can you guess what he named the wolf?" Gracie asks. Half the younger girls have already fallen asleep with smiles on their faces.  
"Wolf?" Madeline suggests. She can be very literally minded when she's tired.  
"Spike?"  
"Killer?"  
"Actually," Gracie says with an air of mystery, "he named the wolf Anders!"  
"Why would he do that?" Madeline asks, wrinkling her tiny freckled nose.  
"After all of us at Anders orphanage, of course," Gracie explains, doing her best to tuck Madeline in with the tiny blanket. "Peter loves every girl in this orphanage."  
Madeline's eyes go wide. "He does?"  
"Mmm-hmm. He knows all your names and tells the lost boys about you."  
"How does he know those things?" one of the girls asks skeptically.  
Gracie hugs Madeline goodnight and closes her tired eyes. "Because he's just that clever."  
"Oh," the skeptic says, apparently satisfied. If anything is indisputable in Anders Orphanage it is the cleverness of Peter Pan.  
An hour later Gracie and Madeline wake up at the same moment. They sit up in bed and stare at each other.  
"Did you hear that?"  
Madeline nods slowly. "Do you think it was."  
But now the sound comes through the window again and there is no denying it. Somebody is playing panpipes outside the attic bedroom!  
"It's Peter, it's Peter!" Madeline whispers excitedly, rushing to the window in her bare feet and shoving it open the rest of the way. Since Gracie began telling stories about Peter the window has always been left open a crack so he'll know he's welcome.  
"Hello Mads!" Gracie hears a boy's voice say.  
"Gracie, Gracie, he called me Mads, just like you!" Madeline says excitedly, turning back from the windowsill a moment. Gracie rushes to her side and sticks her head out into the night.  
"Hello stranger," Peter tells Gracie warmly. He waits for a response expectantly, floating in mid-air with his arms crossed and a grin on his face.  
"We got the buttons," Gracie says. "Thank you." She's too shocked to get out much else.  
"Glad you liked 'em, Gracie. It was a good story tonight!"  
"Story?" Gracie asks dumbly.  
"About the wolf!" Peter and Madeline remind her as one.  
"Oh.right," Gracie says, flustered. "Thanks?"


	2. The first visit

Disclaimer: Peter Pan and all the characters, places, etc. contained therein belong to somebody who isn't me. You guys all belong to yourselves. The rest is mine, muahahaha! 

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The rating's been upped to PG just to be extremely safe.

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Okay guys, here we go!

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It's at this precise moment that Anna sleepily stumbles back into the attic from a trip to the bathroom. Her shoulder-length brown hair is rumpled and pieces of it stick out randomly. "Why are you guys at the windo- oh!" she cries, awake in an instant. She rushes to Gracie's side. 

"Hi Anna," Peter says.

"Oh!" Anna gasps, staring at Peter. "Oh!"

Gracie gently nudges her in the ribs. 

"I knew it," Anna finally says, placing a hand over her heart. "I've always believed in you!"

Kaela stirs in her bed but doesn't wake.

"Won't you come in?" Gracie says, stepping back from the window to make space. Peter lands lightly on the wooden floor.

"He's really here!" Madeline says, ecstatic.

Raven rolls over in bed, half-asleep but disturbed by the voices. "Be quiet," she moans, keeping her eyes tightly shut. "I don't care if _you_ psychos wanna stay up all night but _I've_ gotta wake up at dawn to clean the orphanage. Shut up!" She puts her pillow over her head.

Peter motions the girls to keep quiet than tiptoes over to Raven's bed. He leans down and whispers something under the pillow to quietly for any of the others to hear. "Michelle?" he whispers. "It's me."

After a stunned silence Raven cautiously removes the pillow and looks into Peter's face. She gasps and sits up in bed. "You came!"

"_Who_ came?" Nora asks from the next bunk, blearily rubbing her eyes. "Oh great, Raven's finally lost it- ah! Oh. My. Goodness. Oh my goodness!" 

"Keep your voice down," Gracie says in a rush. "We can't risk waking Matron."

Nora nods in understanding and gets to her feet as quietly as possible. Matron Hallis is in charge of the orphanage. None of the girls understand why she chose this job; Matron, as she's called, hates youth in all its forms and actually locked Gracie in the cellar without supper for a night when she discovered that the girl was telling stories about Peter Pan. 

Madeline runs to Kaela's bunk and begins shaking her. "Peter's here!" she cries as quietly as she can. "Wake up!"

"Huh…wha…Madeline?"

"Peter Pan!" Madeline repeats.

Once Kaela realizes what the girl is saying she reaches over to the next bed and carefully pokes Katrina in the stomach. Kaela deftly catches the flying shoe midair then smacks her friend completely awake with it. "Hey, Kat! Guess who?"

"Who?" Katrina asks, putting her shoe back on.

"Me!" Peter says cheerfully.

"Peter!" Katrina and Kaela each scramble out of bed excitedly. "Oh, this is gonna be so much fun, I can hardly wait!"

"Let's go, what are we waiting for?" Kaela asks. "Katrina, it's our pact! It's finally coming true!

Anna has woken up Charlie, who stares at Peter in admiration. "Good thing I know how to use a sword, I have a feeling it's going to come in handy," she whispers into Anna's ear. "Our lives just got a lot more interesting."

Peter somehow manages to quiet the general buzz of excited orphans and begins to speak. "Are you ready?"

"For what?" they chorus.

"To come to Neverland," he says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. He's probably right. "The lost boys can't wait to meet you and hear all your new stories. Won't you come?"

Gracie and Anna nod vigorously. "We're ready!"

"Let's go!"

"Wait!" Madeline says. The girls turn to look at her questioningly. She runs and grabs her teddy bear, hugging him tight. "Okay, now I'm ready!" she proclaims with a smile. 

"Great! Follow me," Peter says, striding towards the window. "You girls'll love flying!"

"Peter, the pixie dust," Charlie points out.

Peter freezes mid-step. "That's right!" He turns on his heel. "I'm sorry girls, I didn't bring any extra pixie dust with me!"

They make depressed sounds and their shoulders slump.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something . . . " he says, biting his lower lip. After a minute he snaps his fingers. "Got it! I'll get some and come back tomorrow, that should give you time to get ready!"

"Promise you'll come back?" Katrina asks.

"Please?"

"Don't leave us!"

Peter raises his hand palm-open. "On my word of honor I'll come back for you," he says in a rare moment of solemnity. It dissolves quickly. "See you tomorrow night, be ready!" He flies out the window and gives the girls one last wave.

"Look at Sallie, she slept through the whole thing!" Raven exclaims.

"Alicia too!" Nora adds.

"Girls, wake up, you'll never believe what happened!"

In no time at all Sallie and Alicia have had the entire story explained to them. They exchange a glance and snort.

"A boy flew in the window," Sallie says sarcastically. "Right. Did his little fairy friend come with him?"

"She's a pixie," Charlie corrects.

"Whatever. The point is that things like that can't happen."

Alicia grins wickedly. "But do you know what can?"

Sallie takes the cue with glee. "Let me tell you a story about Jack the Ripper. And unlike your little group hallucination thing this is completely true, I have historical evidence. Once there was a beautiful young girl who was-"

"Stop it!" Madeline interrupts. "He was here, he _was_!"

"Let her finish," Alicia snaps testily. 

"Thanks, Alicia. As I was saying, the girl was walking-"

"Stop!" Raven commands. "Peter Pan was here, I saw him. Are you calling me a liar?" She cracks her knuckles threateningly.

"Not a liar," Alicia says. "Maybe you're just a mental case."

"That's it!" Raven launches herself at Alicia, aiming her fists straight for the girl's nose. "You won't have freckles anymore by the time I'm through with you!"

"No!" Charlie and Anna cry, trying to pull Raven off of Alicia, who is getting trounced. "We can't be too loud, Matron will wake up!" When the girls are finally separated everyone stares at each other. 

"Look, it's practically three a.m.," Gracie says sensibly. "Peter will come back tomorrow night, he said so himself. You'll see then," she says with a dark glance at Sallie. "For now, let's all get some sleep."

The girls nod and get into their beds.

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Please review, y'all! Reviewers are so awesome! But no flames. Flames are like codfish!


	3. An anxious day

Disclaimer: Peter Pan and all the characters, places, and etc. contained therein belong to someone who isn't me *hangs head in dejection.* You guys belong to yourselves. Alas, Mush the yummy newsie doesn't belong to me either *sniffle.* And Captain Kidd was historical, as is Sallie's little story about him. I have my sources ^_~. The rest is mine. ^_^

To my reviewers: You guys are the pinnacle of awesomeness! I wish I had the money to rent a big plane, fly to your various locales and pick you all up so we could get front-row tickets to the Peter Pan premiere and see it together on Christmas day! *Goes into daydream* Wouldn't that be cool?

Shout-outs

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Clips: Thanks so much! Here's hoping the inspiration lasts!

musicguyismymummy: Sorry I scared you Kat, although you have to admit it's kind of funny . . . ^_^. . .I can just see you sitting at your computer with this shocked expression . . . okay, end evil enjoyment of startling someone else. I was thinking I'd have everyone call you Katrina except Kaela, but you can tell me what you want Peter to call you when you review.

Raven: Your enthusiasm makes me happy! *Grins widely* Happy reviews make for a happy author! Yay! *hug* 

oi-oi-oi: *carefully writes "Sallie hates my character" in handy-dandy author's notebook* Got it! ^_~ Thanks so much for a character that's a devil's advocate, she adds some needed conflict. *Nods* And it's fun to write somewhat evil people, LOL

PButtercup: Kelsey! Nora! Erm . . . you? Stay excited, this story needs that energy! *hug* Thank you so much for reviewing, reviews make my day! INCONCEIVABLE! Okay, I just said that because you're one of the few people who gets it, LOL

AnimegirlH: *jumps up and down stupidly with you* Yay, we met Peter! Whoo! I'm the one writing it and even _I'm_ excited! 

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EVERYBODY READ THIS SHOUT-OUT, IT'S IMPORTANT!!!

slammin-sorceress: First of all, you have such a cool pen name! Rolls right off the tongue! And thank you so much for reviewing. ^_^ Puts a little sparkle in my day. I would try to make it a romance except that there are nine of us and only one of Peter Pan. *Entertains brief ideas of cloning* Well . . . but no. Nine of us and one of him. So there are several options, really:

I can draw names from a hat to see who the lucky girl is. (I'm nowhere near that diplomatic, so don't count on it) Since I'm the author I can take Peter for myself and leave you all high and dry ^_^ (Don't worry, I'm not that evil. Well, I am, but I'll try to suppress it) I can leave us all boyless in the interest of a platonic good time that's mostly about friendship and lots of fun senseless violence. (I think the rating will be upped to PG-13 in pirate-fighting chapters) I could create some OCs for the girls that would like a romance to be included on their list of Neverland adventures, meaning I'd stick in an original lost boy or reformed pirate or summat. Just drop a line in your review if you would like to get a boyfriend, 'kay? And if you don't want one, that's 100% spiffy, it means less work for me so just don't ask. But if you do, go ahead. I think this is the solution that works for me. ^_^ But NO calling dibs on Peter! If he's reserved for anybody it's Wendy, but since she's not in this fic and I'm the writer I get to be next in line! Although I bet Tink would disagree, LOL, and I'll probably keep a respectful distance 

Le story

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Matron Hallis can sense that something is different. The girls are acting oddly. No matter what chore she assigns them they simply nod with a suppressed smile, as if they're all in on some massive prank about to rear its ugly head.

"You, Larson!" Matron barks, grabbing the passing girl by her ear.

"Ahh! Yes, Matron?" Nora asks sharply, trying to twist her head so her ear doesn't hurt as much.

"Don't talk back to me! It was windy last night and the courtyard is full of trash and leaves. Go sweep it!" she commands.

Nora looks at her wryly, head still tilted. "You know, it would be a lot easier to go if you'd let go of my ear," she says. "Unless you'd like to help sweep."

Matron lets go of Nora's ear and glares at her. "Just for that you're scrubbing the front walk all week!" she announces. "With your toothbrush!"

Nora rolls her eyes and tries to suppress a snort.

"Hop to it!" Matron says. "And take your no-name friend with you!" she adds, grabbing Raven, who has the misfortune of being nearby, by the shirt. 

"I have a name," Raven snaps. 

"Then why wouldn't you tell the police what it was?"

Raven smiles. "I could have told them, but then I'd have had to kill them."

"Get out!"

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Matron does not like this behavior at all and it is putting her into a foul mood.

The girls doing their best to go about their pre-breakfast chores but can barely keep their eyes open. Kaela actually falls asleep on the step she's scrubbing and Matron sweeps in to box her ears. Fortunately this plan is thwarted when Katrina hurriedly shakes her friend awake. They stare up at Matron innocently. She's left to shoot a black look at the pair of them and assign them extra work.

"That screwy woman is ruining my life!" Kaela exclaims once Matron is gone, scrubbing more fiercely than before to vent her anger at the additional momentous workload that's been dumped on them.

Katrina looks up from the soap bucket, royal blue eyes sparkling. "Do you think she figured out that it was us who dipped her hand in warm water when she was sleeping night before last?"

Kaela giggles. "Yupperdoodles. We're the ones who had to wash her sheets, aren't we?"

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Now that they've swept the courtyard and scrubbed the front walk Raven and Nora have breakfast duty. This basically involves stirring the giant vat of mush (the disgusting kind, not the yummy newsie) that's going to pass for their next meal.

Nora pulls on the wooden spoon hard; stirring is difficult since the mush is congealing and her thin arms don't have the muscle tone necessary to do the best job. "I hate my life."  
Raven turns up the burner. Her dark eyes are smoldering dangerously. "For the moment I hate Matron and this mush, but if I have to deal with her any longer or eat it any longer I might agree with you."

"At least we're leaving tonight," Nora offers. "No more Matron, no more mush." She coughs from the mush's fumes.

Raven grins. "Ever again."

"A little help here?" Nora asks after a moment, doing her best to stir.

"Oh, right!" Raven grabs the spoon too. They manage to pull it through the sticky mess a few more times. 

Nora turns off the burner and looks at the cement-resembling glob skeptically, holding her nose. "It looks terrible!"

Raven snickers. "That means it's ready."

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Gracie and Anna are scrubbing the windows of the attic bedroom.

"At least it's for the last time," Gracie says. "Matron's gonna catch it when we all disappear."

Anna smiles at her reflection in the glass. "If we're really lucky she'll lose her job."

Charlie, who is helping Madeline make the beds, hears Anna and laughs. "An orphanage matron with no orphans? I'll say she'll be out of a job. Serves her right, too."

Anna nods. "Just once I'd love to kick her right in the- well, you can guess." She mutters something in Italian, clearly derogatory and directed against Matron. "Hi-YAH!" Anna cries, kicking air at her hip-level fiercely. In a moment the karate fighter has disappeared and sweet little introverted Anna is for all appearances herself again. 

"Done!" Gracie proclaims, throwing down her sudsy rag. "I've washed my last window!"

Charlie looks back and forth furtively then tiptoes to the door. She shuts it as quietly as possible. "Ladies, it's time."

"To what?" Madeline asks in a whisper, catching the secrecy implied by Charlie's actions.

"It's time to pry up the board." 

The girls all rush over to Charlie's bed and manage to shove it four feet to the left, revealing a very particular wooden board beneath it. They hurriedly pry it up and look down on their dusty treasures. All of them reach for their own things.

"Daddy's medal," Charlie says to herself, lifting a bronze star and holding it up so that it gleams dully in the early morning light. She still calls him daddy all these years later – he died in a military hospital when she was very young. 

Anna wipes the dust off of her book, an early edition of _Otherfolk._ It's a collection of entries about hundreds of mythical and "imaginary" creatures that's been selling very well in Europe's larger cities, Paris especially. How she got a copy here of all places is almost a miracle. She runs and slips it underneath her tattered pillow so she'll have it out tonight.

Gracie puts on her mother's locket. Fortunately the chain is long and it can't be seen underneath her thin sweater.

Madeline retrieves her green wooden button. She has been afraid of losing it so she asked the older girls to hide it for her. Now she slips the thread ring over her thumb.

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Alicia and Sallie are polishing silver under Matron's watchful eye. This chore used to be unattended but Matron soon discovered that expensive, shiny things have a habit of disappearing whenever Sallie is nearby.

"Do you know what they did to him?" Sallie asks Alicia.

"What?" she prompts eagerly.

"After leaving him to rot in Newgate Prison for a year, the authorities hanged Captain Kidd and strung him up over the Thames for all to see! They even coated him with tar so he'd last longer," she adds dramatically.

Matron doesn't like this kind of talk; it's making her queasy and she closes her eyes for a moment longer than usual. Sallie stealthily slips a sliver spoon into her sleeve.

Alicia grins at her. Sallie winks back. Unfortunately Matron notices this, so Sallie tries to disguise it by pretending to be extremely tired, blinking heavily and faking a yawn.

"Why are you all so sleepy?" Matron demands. 

Alicia, sensing a perfect opportunity, turns and mouths "Gracie" to her friend.

Sallie immediately launches into high gear. "It's all that _Gracie's_ fault!" she exclaims. "You know her crazy little stories? She woke us up in the middle of the night, ranting and raving about Peter Pan flying in the window or something-"

""We naturally tried to get her to go back to bed," Alicia interjects.

Sallie nods, causing her red hair to ripple. "Of course. The poor thing can't help that she's delusional," she says with fake sympathy. "But she wouldn't listen! She was charging around the room, waving her arms back and forth like a maniac-"

"And she was waking all the girls up too, she has this weird hold over them-"

"They actually believe in her hallucinations," Sallie says in a serious tone. "If you're asking me, _I_ think we should toss her out on the street. What if she convinces them that they can fly? Hmm? They'd all jump out the window!"

Alicia puts a hand to her nose, memory of last night vivid. "When we tried to tell them that Gracie was having an episode they completely lost it," she tells Matron.

"It's like she's the leader of a cult or something!"

"And," Alicia continues, "Raven flat-out attacked me!"

"She _what?_" Matron asks. She has clearly fallen victim to their story.

"She went ballistic and started pummeling me in my bed!"

"Don't worry girls, I'll take care of it," Matron says with certainty.

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It's about midnight and the girls have only just slipped into their narrow, creaking beds. They are far to excited to sleep, especially Sallie and Alicia, but for a very different reason than the others.

The door swings open. Matron strides in and says three words with more severity than she has ever pronounced any others. "Gracie. Raven. _Now._"

Gracie and Raven gingerly get out of bed, eyeing Matron Hallis suspiciously.

"What did we do?"

"Is something wrong?"

Wordlessly Matron grabs their elbows and hauls them downstairs without ceremony. Once they're gone Sallie leaps out of bed and dances in celebration. "They're sleeping in the cellar, they're sleeping in the cellar," she begins to chant in a singsong voice. 

"What's happening?" Madeline asks, wandering over to Nora's bunk.

"I don't know," she answers, "but I know someone who does." She, Charlie and Anna get to their feet spontaneously.

"What did you do?" Charlie demands, taking a menacing step towards Sallie.

Sallie holds her ground, unconcerned. "I told Matron about Gracie's little freak attack," she says, beginning to look a bit more nervous as Anna and Nora also advance. She remains, however, firm in her opinion, and draws courage from it. "The girl's a hazard! A nuisance! I can't stand her. With any luck she'll be gone inside a week."

"If you do any such thing-"

"Hi girls!"

"He's here!" Madeline exclaims, clamoring out of Nora's bed to throw her arms around Peter's waist, which is as high as she can reach.

"Hey Mads! Did you miss me?" Peter asks with a smile.

"Of course! What's that bag?" she asks, pointing to something the size of a four pound sack of flour hanging at Peter's belt.

"The extra pixie dust," he explains. Madeline smiles.

"Oh my word," Sallie says, her jaw dropping. "He's – he's, he's – "

"Oh my gosh!" Alicia exclaims. "Boy – green – pixie – "

"Right, you were asleep last time," Peter says. "Hi, nice to finally meet you!" He holds out his hand to shake. Both Sallie and Alicia stare in total shock.

Peter lowers his hand (he often has this effect on girls) and glances around the room. "Something's not right," he says, taking in the urgent expressions of most of the girls. "What happened? Where are Gracie and Mich- and Raven?"

"Matron locked them in the cellar," Anna says, shooting a contemptuous glare at Sallie.

"What? We have to rescue them!" he says, opening the bag of pixie dust. "Let's go!"

"Matron's room is next to the hall, she'll hear us coming a mile away!" Alicia exclaims.

Charlie looks at Alicia and rolls her eyes. "We're not taking the hall."

"That's right," Peter says. "Quick, everyone think a happy thought!"

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Semi cliffhanger, LOL

Please review, guys! Much love! But no flames. Flames are like when you spend hours making a pie for your school's pie auction and nobody will bid on it!


	4. The Escape

Hello my beautiful readers and reviewers! You rock! *group hug* Your reviews are like happy thoughts, they lift me right up!

Disclaimer: Peter Pan, all the characters, places, and etc. contained therein, the immensely brief passage I quote from it in oi-oi-oi's shout-out, and such belong to somebody who isn't me. You guys all belong to you. Basically the rest is mine; I'm making no money so leave me alone!

Shout-outs:

PButtercup - *thinks about Mush in a pot* Yummy! And probably really, really sweet! What is it about the adorably naïve guys, huh? 

Clips – Actually I don't know if I'm gonna pair anybody with Peter, but he and Raven definitely have something special. I would say that I think every girl is in love with Peter Pan, but Sallie has proven me wrong. So apart from Sallie, every girl is in love with Peter Pan. ^_^ Would you like Alicia to find someone special in Neverland? Just say so in your review if you do, either way is fine by me. I am planning many OCs (original characters). *Rubs hands together evilly*

oi-oi-oi – Poor Sal. Her life has pretty much sucked so far, huh? And I just figured that if she saw a boy fly in the window it might up her chances of becoming a believer, LOL. No boyfriend, right? *Checks notes* Right. Gotcha. And yeah, Peter's a little sexist *giggles* but it works both ways. I happen to have a copy of the book Peter Pan from my local lending library, and one passage says this:

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(John) 'Why, she is only a girl.'

'That,' explained Curly, 'is why we are her servants.'

'You? Wendy's servants!'

'Yes,' said Peter, 'and you also. Away with them!' 

So you see, he may be sexist, but he's also a gentleman. ^_~

Raven – Girl, your review had me in fits! It was so funny! Yes, I am worried too . . . I mean, will we ever escape? Are there _spiders_ down there? What will become of us? *sob* *brightens up* But hey, Peter's on the case. We should be okay. ^_^

Sugar High5 – That's cool, you used two of your special words in your review, LOL! Spiffy neat-o! And yeah, if I get the chapters out (I'm workin' on it) Kaela will get a boyfriend. *grins*

AnimegirlH – Glad you're excited! Happy readings to you! Dear me, an Italian romance sounds nice . . . *slips into daydream* I do that a lot, LOL. I'll see what can be arranged. ^_~ Otherfolk is imaginary, but a good book a lot like it would be The Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were. It's a great read.

Girlies that are gonna get boyfriends, eventually: Nora, Anna, Raven, Katrina and Kaela 

If your name is not on this list and you want to change that, now's the time to act! Put in a request for a boyfriend in your review and I'll see if I can pencil in a little romance.

"I've got my happy thought," Charlie says, fingering her father's medal. It's pinned to her shirt and has a soft luster in the moonlight pouring through the window.

"Me too!" Anna says cheerfully, holding her book close to her.

"I've got one, I've got one!" Madeline cries, forgetting in her excitement about the necessity of pixie dust and leaping from a bunk. Nora manages to catch her only just in time.

"Easy, Madeline! Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she says, putting Madeline's feet back on the cold wooden floor.

"Who's going first?" Peter asks, opening the bag of pixie dust.

"We are!" Kaela and Katrina say at the same time, bouncing up and down with excitement.

Peter grins. "Ready? One, two – " and he blows the pixie dust onto them!

Kaela soars into the air so quickly that she bumps her head on the ceiling and dislodges a little plaster. "Look out below!" she cries, giggling and wincing at once. Peter and Alicia dodge out of the way to avoid being hit by falling bits of ceiling. "Come on Kat, the water's fine!"

Katrina closes her eyes and concentrates for a moment before shooting up towards her friend. Luckily she manages to avoid smashing her head like Kaela. "I'm flying, look at me!"

"Technically you're floating," Nora says dryly, impatient to be blown with pixie dust.

"She's right," Katrina says seriously, looking up to Kaela. "Tag, you're it!" The ensuing race is quite a comical sight; neither Kaela nor Katrina are very good at flying yet, this being their first time, so they're constantly running into each other and swerving at the last moment to avoid walls.

Peter takes another handful of pixie dust and blows it onto Madeline, Nora, and Alicia. All three are off the ground in less that five seconds and bobbing around in the middle of the room.

"I'm flying!" Alicia says. "Whee! Sallie, check it out!"

Sallie watches with a strange kind grimness.

"See, Gracie was telling the truth," Charlie says to her. "And all this time you've been calling her a liar."

"Shove it!" Sallie snaps, turning away.

Madeline dives towards her bunk and grabs her teddy bear. She flies up again, spinning in circles. 

"You're it!" Katrina laughs, tagging Nora.

"No I'm not!"

"Hey, no tag-backs!"

"Can't catch me!" Peter taunts good-naturedly, leaping into the air and joining the game. Nora makes a hysterical if futile attempt to tag Peter, who is by far superior to their fledgling flying skills and makes them look like so many wet chickens trying to fly compared to a speeding hawk.

"Peter!" Charlie says. "Come on, you haven't blown the pixie dust on us yet!"

"Oh, right. Time out!" he announces in a commanding tone none of the girls have heard before. That's his captain voice. They do their best to freeze in their positions while Peter blows pixie dust on Charlie, Anna, and Sallie. "Alright, time in!" And the game resumes again, twice as wildly as before.

"What is it, Sallie?" Alicia asks, landing next to her ground-bound friend. "Why aren't you flying?"

"Leave me alone!" she snaps.

Alicia's eyes flare at this treatment. "Fine, be like that!" She rejoins the game with even more gusto than before to prove that Sallie's attitude isn't bothering her.

"Halt!" Peter says suddenly, again in his captain voice. "We have a rescue mission to perform!"

The girls nod.

"Do you know how to get into the cellar?" Peter asks.

Nora answers him. "Once I spent an afternoon there for mouthing off," she says. "It's inside the orphanage down a set of steps right by the back door."

"Here's the plan." The girls draw closer and listen intently. "We fly around the back of the orphanage, then Nora and I get inside and rescue Raven and Gracie. The rest of you . . . do you think you can find some toilet paper?" he asks with a mischievous grin.

Katrina and Kaela exchange glances. "Most definitely!"

*

*

*

Meanwhile, in the cellar . . . 

"I'm gonna soak ya, ya dirty rotten Matron!" Raven cries, pounding on the cellar door. "You're gonna wish you were never born!" She continues on in this vein for a few minutes. When her anger drains away she begins to get frightened. "Gracie, what if they leave without us?"

"Peter wouldn't do that," Gracie says confidently.

"Are you sure?" Raven paces the tiny cellar, back and forth, back and forth. She begins to scratch her wrist agitatedly.

"Itchy?" Gracie asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Um, you're scratching kind of a lot. Stop it, you'll bleed!"

Raven looks down at the hand that's compulsively scratching her wrist. The wrist is turning a violent pink. "Uh-oh," she says, folding her arms after much effort. "That's just something that happens when I get nervous."

"The great Raven, nervous?"

"Don't get smart!" Raven says harshly. "I can't help it, I've been scratching my wrist since I was a baby."

"Sorry," Gracie apologizes, sitting down and pulling her legs up beneath her chin. "Look, you can relax. I've been stuck here before and there's nothing to be afraid of except the spiders."

Raven's eyes widen. "Spiders?" 

The girl nods. "It must be the damp air or something, but they get pretty big down here." 

*

*

*

Peter counts as one by one seven orphans fly out the window. "Wait, I'm one short," he says, perplexed. He turns and sees the seething Sallie glaring at him.

"I can't do it," she says flatly.

"Why not? I blew you with pixie dust, didn't I?" he asks, pulling the strings of the bag open in case he forgot to.

"Yes, you did!" Sallie says angrily. "That's not the problem!"

"Well?"

"What do you mean _Well?_, you idiot!" she says, doing a pretty fair impression of his voice. "Does it look like I'm flying to you?!"

Peter is not used to being spoken to in this manner, and certainly not by a girl. As a rule girls tend to adore him, though he doesn't understand why any more than he understands why Sallie practically bit his head off. 

Sallie gives him a minute to say something but she's succeeded in stunning Peter into silence. "I don't have a happy thought," she says bitterly, resenting the fact that she has to spell it out for him.

Peter's jaw drops. "No happy thought?"

"Did I stutter?"

Peter looks at her in confusion. "Why are you so angry?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I'm a gentleman and you're a lady."

Sallie snorts. "Yeah, right."

*

*

*

Five minutes later Nora pops her head back in the orphanage window. "Peter? What's going on?"

"Change of plans," he says. "Take Charlie and rescue the girls, I'm still teaching Sallie how to fly."

Nora looks at Sallie in mild disdain and flies back around the orphanage rolling her eyes. 

"Charlie, c'mon!"

They manage to jimmy open a window and sneak around down the flight of stairs to the heavy cellar door.

"Raven? Gracie?"

Raven and Gracie's heads snap around at the sound. "Hello?"

"It's Nora!"

"And Charlie!"

Raven sighs with relief and rushes to the door. "Can you get us out of here? Do you have the key?"

Charlie and Nora look at each other worriedly. "No." Somehow getting into the cellar had seemed like less of a problem when Peter was going to do it with them.

"Where does Matron keep the key?" Charlie asks Gracie through the door. "Do you know?"

"On her keyring," Gracie says. "But that's no use, she sleeps with it on her nightstand!"

Nora glances back up the flight of stairs. "I'll go get it. Raven, Gracie, don't move!"

"We sort of can't," Raven says with exasperation. "Be careful!"

*

*

* 

The other girls, with the exception of Sallie, are having the time of their lives. Toilet papering is taken to a whole new level when you can fly up high instead of having to throw. 

Katrina shakes a bottle of whip cream and starts spraying the upper-story windows, skipping Matron's so as not to wake her up. Kaela is covering the lower-story windows at the same time.

Alicia turns the hose on and leaves it running just inside the front door, smothering wild laughter all the time.

*

*

*

"There must be _something_ you like, Sallie," Peter says. 

Sallie is about to shake her head but changes her mind. "I guess I like Captain Kidd," she reflects. "And scaring the other girls."

"Who was Captain Kidd?"

Sallie grins. "He was a pirate." 

Peter makes a wounded face. All of a sudden Sallie shoots off the floor.

*

*

*

Nora opens Matron's bedroom door inch by inch, cursing the squeaky hinges. She begins to tiptoe over to the nightstand as quietly as possible, holding her breath.

It is at this moment that Madeline gets a little over-zealous outside and throws a double-thick roll of toilet paper at Matron's window. To Nora's everlasting horror the window shatters and Matron jerks up in bed just in time to see the toilet paper stop rolling at her feet.

"What on this earth do you think you're doing?" Matron screams, in her sleepy state supposing that somehow it was Nora who broke the window.

Thinking quickly Nora screams, "Charlie we're busted, find another way to get them out!" then runs upstairs instead of downstairs, Matron in hot pursuit.

Nora flings open the door to the attic bedroom. She runs past Peter and Sallie and leaps to the window frame.

Matron springs after her, stopping short at the sight of Peter. "A boy? You smuggled a _boy into the orphanage_?!" She cries, the vein in her forehead visibly pounding as her anger mounts. "I'm going to whip every last one of you!"

"Not this time," Nora says, jumping out the window.

Frightened that Nora's death might lose her her job Matron rushes to the window and looks down to see if the girl is done for.

"Up here, Matron!"

Matron Hallis looks up in horror. Nora smiles down at her for a moment then flies off to join her friends.

Sallie taps Matron on the shoulder. "I just want to say thank you," she says. 

"For what?" Matron asks nervously, not liking Sallie's tone.

"For the bracelet," Sallie answers, holding up the silver bracelet that she's managed to steal.

"How did you-"

Ignoring her entirely, Sallie and Peter fly out the window.

*

*

*

"Oh, I've got it!" Charlie cries. She quickly pulls the bolts from the hinges and pulls the door away.

"Good work, Charlie!"

"Come on, let's go!"

*

*

*

Peter blows Raven and Gracie with pixie dust the second they get out the orphanage window. In no time at all they're flying.

"Are you ready?" he asks them, landing on the roof where all the other girls have congregated. Raven lands well but Gracie half-crashes into Charlie.

"Watch it!"

"Sorry, I'm a little new at this," Gracie giggles.

"Of course we are!" Alicia says brightly. 

Anna nods. "Let's just leave this awful place."

"Follow me," Peter says, leaping into the air. "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!"

Please review, y'all! I do so love reviews. Actually I love them so much that it's a bit frightening, LOL! But no flames. Flames are like getting an F after spending hours studying for a test! 


	5. Flight to Neverland

Hey guys! Thanks you so much for being a part of this story, it means a lot to me! 

If you want to see the trailer for the new Peter Pan movie (and I have seen it, so take my word on the subject – **you do**) then go rent Charlie's Angels 2. It's before the film. And frankly speaking, it rocked my world. I am _so_ excited, and in a weird way humbled, and also kind of scared. This has been a fairly peaceful fandom, but after Christmas we can kiss that goodbye, which worries me a little. Also it should disturb me that I'm almost seventeen and so completely excited about the next Peter Pan film, but it doesn't. I guess I just need more wacky friends. ^_^ Like you guys.

That whole getting a plane and flying around to pick you all up for the Christmas premiere is sounding better and better. ^_^ If any of you have rich parents and would like to help make the dream a reality, just say the word, LOL!

Now the shout-outs!

Clips: Aw, you're no trouble! *Hug* Happy reviewers are never trouble! ^_^ Here's that chapter!

Katrina: You don't have to worry, I'm not stalking you. ^_^ At least, I don't think I am. (I would know if I were a stalker, right?) And you brought up a good point that made me think – I don't plan to describe Peter, at least not physically. I think that every girl knows what he looks like to her, if you see what I mean. Hope your mum's not too mad! 

oi-oi-oi: Oh yes, Hook is coming up. ^_^ You can't have a Peter Pan story without Captain Hook, that would just be wrong! I actually don't know why Peter cut off Hook's hand . . .hmm. Does anybody know the actual story of how that happened? I mean, some canon motivation? I'd love to know.

ShadySmog: Ugg-a-Wugg Wa! ^_^ I was never in the play, but man, how I want to be! You check twice a day? *Gets teary-eyed* Now I feel so special! I'm sending you a virtual hug! *Hug* And an apology that the update has been so long in coming, I've kinda been sidetracked with my blasted real life.

Sugar High5: You're a twin? That's so cool! And a wild little toilet papering story, btw. ^_~ Spies? Now there's an interesting idea . . . I don't have any at the moment, but it sounds like fun!

Raven: YOU DREW BLOOD! LOL, another classic Raven review! The New York accent came from me seeing you hanging around the Newsies fanfiction area, I have a fic there and we've reviewed the same authors a few times. So it was just a Newsies insiders joke. ^_^

AnimegirlH: Yes, an Italian romance! Whee! And good luck finding the book. I actually don't remember if Peter has an entry in it. *Smacks self for badness of not remembering such a crucial detail* Here we go with another chappie!

The last minute boyfriend check: Okay, I've got Nora, Anna, Raven, Kaela, Katrina and Alicia.

****

Gracie Jane needs your help! I don't want to worry you, but I plan to make the next chapter a bit violent and somebody's going to get hurt – we're talking a bloody wound and screams of pain and such. (Don't worry, nobody dies in this story, they just get really big boo-boos! ^_^ Well some bad guys might die, but who cares about them?) Should I up the rating to PG-13? 

Also, how should I spell Tinkerbell? TinkerBell, Tinkerbelle, or Tinker Bell like in the book?

Disclaimer: Peter Pan and all the characters, places, and etc. contained therein don't belong to me. You guys all belong to yourselves. Basically everything else is mine. I'm making no money from this, so please don't sue me!

"Girls, I keep telling you, _stop kicking_!" Peter laughs. "You're flying, you don't have to do anything with your feet."

"Force of habit?" Anna offers with a blush, trying to still her flailing legs without much success. 

Charlie giggles – she's having similar problems. "Well, we've been using our legs to get around forever. A little flight shock is probably natural."

"It happens to almost everybody," Peter reassures. "You'll get better as you go. Now come on – I'll teach you how to jump on the wind's back!"

It need not be said that learning to jump on the wind's back is among the more fabulous experiences that the girls have ever had. Even Sallie is enjoying herself thoroughly, but of course will never admit it. Alicia, however, can tell and is happy that Sallie's having a good time.

Other than Peter, Katrina and Kaela are by far the best fliers of the group. Within the first hour they've started darting ahead to have adventures of their own while the others catch up. When asked what they've been doing they just exchange a glance and laugh hysterically.

"We invented a new game!" Katrina cries, circling back around the other orphans.

"What is it?" Peter asks, immediately interested. 

"Cloud diving!" Kaela says excitedly. "You fly over a cloud, then do a fancy dive and come out underneath it! It's wild!"

"And your clothes get all wet!"

"Yupperdoodles!" Kaela bubbles, looking at her cloud-dampened sleeves with pride. "It's so much fun!"

Alicia is one of the first to pioneer this new sport; she surprises everyone with an acrobatic twist in mid-dive. 

"What? You guys know that my family were performers. I learned a few things," she says with a self-satisfied smirk.

For the next twenty minutes everyone (with the exception of Sallie, who has been lagging behind for awhile and is becoming extremely irritable) takes a stab at cloud diving. Raven and Nora even go a step further with _synchronized_ cloud diving, at which the others clap loudly.

When they surface Nora has something to say. "I saw an ocean down there!"

"What?"

"When I dived through the clouds – we're over an ocean!"

Sallie snorts. "Not likely. The orphanage was miles and miles from any oceans."

Nora's eyebrows snap together. "I know what an ocean looks like, Sallie."

"And _I_ know what a map looks like," Sallie says patronizingly. Alicia shoots her friend a reproachful look. Sallie's either oblivious to it or is doing an excellent job of pretending that she is. 

"What did _you_ see, Raven?" Gracie asks tactfully, trying to defuse the situation.

"Nothing, I was looking up. But there's an ocean down there, believe me," she says with certainty.

"And you know this how?" Sallie prompts.

"Nora saw it!" Raven snaps, bristling. "Why would she make something like that up?"

While the girls are having this fight Peter displays some excellent sense by popping below the cloudline to check for himself. "Nora's right," he declares, bursting up again like a cannonball. "We're over an ocean."

"But how did that happen?" Charlie asks. "How fast are we flying?"

Peter grins knowingly. "Pretty fast." Abruptly the grin disappears and he sobers in that rare way of his. "Before we go any farther there is something that you must all promise me," he says seriously.

"Sure."

"Anything!"

"What is it?" Madeline asks.

"You must promise that if it comes to single combat, you'll leave Hook to me."

A heavy silence hangs in the air. The girls exchange troubled glances for a long moment. Many of them look at Peter's sword and think things that had not occurred to them before. "Defend your lives, but do not strike to kill," Peter continues. "Promise me that."

"I promise," Gracie says solemnly. Peter give a slight smile that's more serious than usual. Their eyes meet, and an understanding flashes between them. 

"I promise," Anna says. Peter inclines his head to her in a slight bow.

"So do I," Kaela and Raven say as one. "It's always been Hook vs. Pan, Peter," Raven goes on. "We understand."

"I promise," Nora says. 

"Me too!" Katrina adds.

Madeline looks at Peter with wide eyes. "Me three," she says in all seriousness. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

"I promise," Charlie says, managing to give the formal salute her father taught her.

"And me," Alicia affirms. "I promise too. That's one thing I'll give my word on. I don't want anywhere near Hook!" 

"Thank you all," Peter says graciously, still continuing in a serious vein. "Now for Sallie."

_Oh, drat,_ Sallie thinks. _I was hoping that if I stayed quiet he wouldn't notice I hadn't gone._ "But what if he attacks me?" she bursts. 

"Protect your life, but spare his. Hook is mine."

Sallie is already sulking. "Done. I promise. Can we go now?" Only too late does she realize that she did not remember to cross her fingers. _Stupid being stuck with my word,_ she fumes to herself.

"Now that that's out of the way," Peter says playfully, once again in his usual spirits, "let's go play tricks on some stars!"

*

*

*

Morning is nearing and the girls have a few last-minute questions.

"Is it true that it's different seasons all over the island?" Charlie asks.

Peter nods. "And they switch so quickly! You have to check outside each morning to see if you need a scarf or not," he adds with a laugh.

"What about the mermaids?" Anna puts in. "Are they as wicked as the stories make them seem?"

"Yes; quite. They would drown you in a moment," he says nonchalantly. Madeline pales at this piece of information and flies closer to Nora.

"But don't they sing to you and listen to your stories?" Anna asks.

"When I say they're wicked I mean at least to everybody else," Peter says uncomfortably. "Sometimes wicked creatures aren't so wicked to me. I'm not sure why, that's just the way it is. But don't worry, if I'm there the mermaids won't have enough cheek to harm you."

It's Nora's turn for a question. "Are there any lost boys now?"

"Of course!" Peter replies, rather put on his mettle. "What kind of leader would I be without followers?"

"Where do you live?" Kaela cuts in. "We know Hook discovered the Home Underground."

"We're living in a cave I found when I was playing hide-and-seek with the boys," Peter says, as if discovering caves and then moving into them is the most natural thing in the world.

"A cave?" Sallie asks with distaste. "All smelly and drippy?"

"No. It's sandy and dry," Peter says. "With three very well-hidden entrances."

"Oh no!" Nora cries, pausing in mid-air. The others pile up behind her like reverse dominoes. Peter circles back to see what's wrong.

"What, what is it?" Raven asks Nora.

"We are such dunces, Ravy," Nora says, making a pained expression.

"What did we do?"

"You won't believe this," Nora says with a sigh.

"Try me," Raven says through clenched teeth, her patience growing dangerously thin.

"You're gonna kick yourself," Nora says.

"Will you just tell me already!" Raven snaps. 

"Fine! Gosh, bite my head off. We flew away in our pajamas," she says bitterly.

"No we- oh no!" Raven cries. "We did!"

"I told you that you'd kick yourself," Nora says calmly, watching Raven fly into a fit.

The other girls look at their pajamas and do some serious thinking about practicality. They all at least had the sense to get shoes on before flying out the window, with the exceptions of Raven and Gracie, who, if you'll recall, were flung into the cellar before they could do much of anything. 

"Don't worry," Peter tells them comfortingly, "I never wear shoes. You'll be fine."

"Who cares about shoes, I'm in a nightdress for goodness sake!" Charlie bursts. "How am I supposed to fight pirates and go plunging through the underbrush in a nightgown?"

"It's pretty long," Anna says appraisingly, flying closer to Charlie and examining the fabric. "If we cut it off about _here_," she says, gesturing, "I could use the extra material to make you a pair of shorts."

"You'd do that?"

"Of course," Anna says with a sincere smile.

Charlie visibly relaxes. "Thanks."

"I'll do yours too," Anna tells Alicia, the only other girl in a nightdress instead of pajamas. Alicia thanks her warmly. (A/N: When I say "pajamas" I mean those little matching sets you get – you know, leggings and a top of some kind, be it tank top, old T-shirt, a button-up shirt that goes with the leggings, or whatever. Who wants to be wearing boxers? Somebody volunteer! ^_^)

In the distance something the blue-green color of a jewel flashes and smiles in the sun. Pale waters lap at its shores and a pirate ship is anchored menacingly near. Dark threads of smoke rise from the Indian encampment. Even this far away the girls can hear the calls of birds that have never seen the mainland. 

Madeline's eyes go as big as saucers. "Look!"

Peter beams with pride. "That's it, that's Neverland!" 

Please review, guys! ^_^ Your reviews are complete awesomeness, they make me feel so, so good! But no flames, flames are like when you're minding your own business and somebody throws a rotten banana at your head!


	6. Initial Adventures

Hi guys! I love my reviewers soooo much! So know that when you review you're making one girl very, very happy! ^_^ 

I'm upping the rating to PG-13 for violence, action, and other stuff like that.

Now for the shout-outs.

ShadySmog: It doesn't sound wrong, LOL. And I would love to try cloud diving some day too, flying must be awesome!

Raven: Do I have a crush on Peter? But of course! ^_^ I think that all girls, with the exception of Sallie, do. I mean, what's not to like? He's so cool and courageous and gentlemanly and fierce and clever and. . .*rambles on for some time.* Well, you get the idea, LOL.

Katrina: Logging in bugs me too, it's an annoying process *wrinkles nose.* And my folks probably wouldn't be ecstatic about me taking off for a premiere either. I can hear it already – "Do we know these girls' parents?" *Rolls eyes* Thanks for the websites, that one is really scary!

oi-oi-oi: I'M NOT GONNA KILL OFF YOUR CHARACTER! *Giggles* Sorry if I scared you there, 'twas unintentional. I meant that _really_ evil characters, black-hearted pirates and such, run the risk of getting the axe. You can relax, I don't think Sallie's evil so much as a bit defensive. *Gasps with laughter* If the instructions were on the boot? That so funny! And thanks for the Tinker Bell info; I guess that's the spelling I'll use.

Zorrina: Thank you, Zorrina! I'm trying to sketch out future chapters so I can keep it going.

Sugar High5: Since I am impressed with your collection, you're the boxers girl! ^_^ And buckle your seat belt, this chapter should have enough action. I was going over my notes and realized that I never mentioned Kaela's glasses – hope that's okay.

Lyz: Love your penname! I would squeeze you in, but the story kind of won't allow for it now – I'm sorry. Thanks so much for the review! *Hug*

*

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*

The Classic Disclaimer: Peter Pan and all the characters, places, and etc. contained therein don't belong to me. I'm using them all entirely without permission. You guys all (presumably) belong to yourselves. Everything else is mine, including the OC lost boys and other characters I've created. I'm making no money from this so please don't sue!

The Added Disclaimer: Part of the charm of NeverNeverland is the presence of Indians. I just want to say that I hold Native Americans in the highest respect and that I'm not portraying any of their tribes, I'm portraying the Neverland Indians, which I like to think of as being separate and to themselves. So I'm not endeavoring to insult your culture, I'm just including a traditional part of the Peter Pan story.

The Extra Disclaimer: There will be twins in this story, and they're just about the most stereotypical interchangeable duo you ever did see. I've known several sets of twins and almost all of them were polar opposites of each other, but this set is just that way.

*

*

*

Peter shoots up in the air and crows triumphantly. "I'm back!" he cries when he's finished. As if in answer sunlight stretches across the island, touching it with gold. The girls get the strange sensation that is actually _did_ happen because Peter's returned. "Did ya miss me, Neverland?"

** BOOM!**

The girls all jerk at the sudden sound. Peter doesn't even flinch.

****

"What was that?" Madeline asks.

"Long Tom," Peter says, watching disinterestedly as a cannonball flies past about twenty feet away from his head. "The first few shots are always wide because they panic when they see me."

"So we aren't in danger?" Anna asks 

"Oh no, they aren't aiming at you. It's me they want," he says confidently.

"Peter?" Nora interjects. "You just said that their aim sucks."

Abruptly Peter's expression changes. "Good point. Do you see that little mountain of boulders back there?" 

"The one with the triple-split top?" Raven asks, squinting in the bright morning light.

"That's the one."

**BOOM!**

This cannonball is about five feet closer than the first. 

"Fly to the bottom of those boulders and look for my cave, I'll stay here and distract the pirates!" He draws his sword and flashes an ecstatic grin. 

"Me too!" Charlie and Anna say together.

"What?"

"We can fight!"

Peter looks at them appraisingly. 

"My father taught me," Charlie explains.

"And I'm a black belt!"

Peter makes a quick decision. "Anna, stay with the others and keep them safe, Charlie, come with me!" He draws his dagger and places it in her hands. "This is all I can spare. Are you ready?"

**BOOM!**

"As ready as I'll ever be!"

"Then **_let's fly!_**" Peter commands in his captain voice. He and Charlie speed towards the pirate ship and the others start for the island.

*

*

*

The most recent cannonball goes completely wild and veers far away from the group. Unfortunately Alicia and Sallie had done practically the same thing and are nearly hit by it. The force of the cannonball's wake blasts them off-course and they're thrown into a nearby lagoon.

Alicia moans and begins to dog paddle. "Talk about a belly-flop! Sallie?" _I don't know if Sallie can swim,_ she realizes nervously. _Where is she?_ "Sallie!"

*

*

*

The rest of the girls, with the exception of Charlie, are staying close to the tree line and looking around with wonder.

"It's like a dream come true, Kat!" Kaela says, grinning rapturously as Neverland unfolds beneath her.

"I know. Look, there's autumn!" Katrina points out a stand of trees whose leaves are reddish-gold and falling.

"And _there's_ some winter!" Madeline says excitedly. "Can we make a snowman later, Gracie?"

"I don't see why not," Gracie says. 

"Oh! Was that a unicorn down there?" Anna asks, turning her head and peering between the trees while flying forward.

"I hope so," Nora says. "Unicorns are cool. Anna, watch out!"

Anna turns to face forward just in time to swerve and avoid smashing into a particularly tall tree. She lets out a nervous laugh. "Thanks for the heads-up."

"I hope this cave is big enough for all of us," Raven comments to nobody in particular. "I hate sharing space." 

"We're used to cramming anyway," Nora says. "After the orphanage living in a cave will probably feel like Park Avenue." She rolls her eyes and snorts.

"It would be funny if it weren't true," Raven says darkly, a smile tugging at her mouth anyway.

"I don't think that space will be a problem," Gracie says. "It's easy to cram in Neverland - all the stories say that."

"Are we there yet?" Madeline asks.

"Nope Mads, the boulders are a little further ahead."

"Just stay close and we'll be there in no time," Nora tells her.

*

*

*

"BOO!" Sallie cries, enjoying watching her friend jump. Alicia spins around to see Sallie treading water with a mischievous grin plastered on her face. 

"Don't scare me like that!" Alicia snaps, then breathes a sigh of relief. "So you're okay?"

Sallie nods. "I think so. You?"

"Apart from the fact that you just gave me a _heart attack_ I'm fine," she says, annoyed.

"Good." Sallie is quiet for a moment and her face contorts in frustration. "Can _you_ fly, Alicia?"

"Of course."

"No, I mean now. I think that the water washed the pixie dust off of us!"

Alicia attempts to fly too, also unsuccessfully.

"Oh NO! What are we gonna do?"

Sallie looks around. "I guess we'll have to swim in and try to find the cave-" she is cut off by a loud _splash._ "What was that?"

"Sallie, you never listened to Gracie's stories . . ." Alicia begins uncertainly.

"Your point?" Sallie prompts.

"Sometimes _I_ did, and if we're where I think we are then we're in big trouble!"

"What? Where are we?"

"I might be wrong, but if that's Marooner's Rock this is probably Mermaid Lagoon."

Sallie stares blankly.

"These mermaids kill people," Alicia adds seriously. 

It's at this moment that Sallie chances to look through the lagoon's clear water for the first time. What to her suddenly-not-so-skeptical eyes should appear but a cavalcade of mermaids beginning to surround them.

*

*

*

"I've always wanted to do this," Charlie says, plunging Peter's knife through the _Jolly Roger's_ sail. She stops flying and lets her weight on the blade rip the canvas all the way down to the deck. Smirking, she lands on her feet and picks a target.

"Shoot them!" Hook orders in what sounds like an evil relation of Peter's captain voice. "Shoot them now!"

It's the first time that Charlie has heard the voice of Captain Jas. Hook. Her smirk disappears instantly.

*

*

*

Anna is the first to land. The other girls touch down behind her in quick succession. 

"Now all we have to do is find the cave," Gracie tells Madeline.

Nora turns to Raven. "Why do I have the feeling that that's easier said than done?"

The girls search for several minutes, endeavoring to stay together while they do it. In spite of their best efforts they drift apart slightly, and before they know it Katrina and Kaela find themselves isolated from the rest of the group.

"Should we yell and see if they can hear us?" Katrina asks.

Kaela bites her lip. "That might just let something bad know where we are. Which way did we come from?" They uneasily spin in a circle – all the trees look the same!

"I think it might have been that way," Katrina offers, pointing off into the distance. "Let's see if we can find them."

*

*

*

"How do you fight off mermaids?"

"I don't know!" Alicia cries, starting to panic.

"What good are Gracie's stories if they don't tell you how to _keep_ the mermaids from killing you?" Sallie snaps. "Uh – I've got it, get up on the rock!" Both girls swim towards Marooner's Rock as fast as they can. Alicia falls a bit behind while Sallie scrambles onto the side of the tall rock.

"Ahh!" she screams, stopping dead in the water only a few strokes from the rock. "One of them's got my leg!" She starts to struggle but can't manage to escape.

"Give me your hands!" Sallie stretches out her arms. She clasps Alicia's hands and begins to pull as hard as she can. Suddenly Alicia lets out a piercing shriek and the water around her darkens with blood.

*

*

*

"I think we're going the wrong way," Kaela says hesitatingly. "I've never seen _that_ before." She gestures to a still pool of water surrounded by trees on all sides.

Katrina comes up behind her. "Neither have I. We must have taken a wrong turn or something, huh?"

"Who are you?" a serious voice demands.

Kaela and Katrina look at each other, then turn around and look up at four very tall and fierce-looking Indian warriors.

"Um, How?" Kaela says experimentally, holding up her right hand like she's seen in Westerns. She smiles widely and waits for a response.

The tallest Indian, who seems to be the one in charge, turns to his subordinates. "Take them prisoner." They nod mutely and whip out leather cords.

*

*

*

Anna, Raven, Nora, Gracie and Madeline are still having no luck on the cave front. They're just about to give up hope when they hear the sound of boy's voices.

"Where's Pan?"

"I think we should go back home and wait," two voices say as one.

"No, I heard him crowing! Peter's home and we're going to find him," one says firmly.

The owners of these voices come into view through the trees, as do some other boys. They stop dead when they see the orphans. 

"What are they?" the smallest boy asks, his mouth agape. This expression of awe showcases that his two front teeth are missing. 

"They don't look like pirates," two say together. These are Neverland's resident twins, not to be confused with the set from Wendy's day; they're a different pair and are both sporting a black eye at the moment.

"Well?" one of the boys asks, looking at the girls expectantly. "Who are you?"

Raven and Nora's eyes meet – together they push Gracie forward.

After shooting a reproachful glance back at them Gracie starts talking. "We're the girls from Anders Orphanage," she says. "Peter brought us here."

A golden ball of light darts angrily into view and zips around one of the boy's ears. A chimey sound floats through the air. "Tink says they're spies!"

"We're not spies," Raven says in a condescending tone, dark eyes flashing indignantly.

"And we can prove it," Anna adds with strange confidence.

"We can?" the others ask.

Anna nods and holds up her right hand, revealing a green-button ring for all to see.

"Peter told us about those," the twins say. 

"I've got one too!" Madeline cries, waving around her hand. The other girls show their buttons as well.

"You lied to us, Tink!" The lost boy she spoke with says, appalled. Tinker Bell replies sharply in her own language, causing the other boys to burst into laughter.

"What? What did she say?" Madeline wants to know.

"She called Wildcat a bucket-head," the littlest boy laughs. "Bucket-head, Bucket-head!" he taunts in a singsong voice.

__

GRRR!

The laughter stops instantly. Something is growling in the trees and it's getting closer. The lost boys cluster together instinctively and draw their weapons.

A large wolf with fur on end and teeth bared approaches, preparing to strike.

*

*

*

Peter is already facing his fifth pirate and has been calmly dodging bullets the entire time. Charlie is quite impressed; she's struggling with her second pirate and praying that nobody shoots at her. 

"Shoot them, I say!" Hook bursts again. "You lad," he cries, using his hook to lift the cabin boy off the deck, "Use that pistol or I'll cut you to ribbons!"

"Yes, captain!" he chirps nervously, fumbling to get a shot ready. Hook flings him aside in disgust.

"I think we've worn our welcome out, Charlie," Peter says, dispatching his adversary with a neat thrust through the torso. "Follow me!" He leaps into the air and flies off, Charlie right behind him.

*

*

* 

Sallie knows she has to win this tug-of-war, and **now**. "One . . .two . . . and _heave!_" she cries, wrenching Alicia out of the mermaid's grasp. Alicia's face is twisted in pain and she can't climb, so Sallie hauls her up to the top of the rock. It's too high for the mermaids to scale without legs, although they're certainly trying.

Alicia is practically doubling over with the pain of her wound. Sallie takes as close a look as she dares and discovers that the lacerations on Alicia's stomach look a lot like something else – fingernail marks. _They're deep,_ Sallie realizes.

"Alicia – does Marooner's Rock . . . um, sink?"

"No," Alicia gasps, "but it's completely c-covered when the – ahh! – tide comes in."

The tide is rising and the mermaid's attempts are bringing them closer and closer to the girls.

*

*

*

Kaela and Katrina are certainly not going without a fight. They aren't above punching, slapping, kicking, pinching, and even biting their assailants. They do all of these things, but to no avail, and are quickly bound and gagged. The braves will have bruised shins and sore spots all over for the next week.

The Indians sling the girls over their shoulders fireman-style and head off confidently.

_At least **they** know where they're going,_ Kaela thinks ruefully. _Stupid screwy look-alike trees!_

*

*

*

Please review, guys! ^_^ For some reason a few of the people who's characters I'm using have stopped reviewing, which is kind of weird. But back to the subject, your reviews make my day! They're wonderful! But not flames, flames are like when you're on a road trip millions of miles from a bathroom and you just drank a giant soda!

And just so you can sleep at night remember that nobody good dies in this story, they just get really big boo-boos! 


	7. Surviving the Initial Adventures

****

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated!

Gracie Jane is back in business! ^_^ I am soooo sorry about the lack of updates, I've been studying for the SATs (a very important and troublesome test us poor American kiddies have to take if we want to go to a respectable college) and didn't have the time or the heart. But I took the wicked old test this afternoon and am now able to continue with our adventure! ^_^ YAY!

To my reviewers: I love you bunches! BUNCHES, I say! * Hugs everybody two or three times to apologize for the long absence*

The life of a fanfic author. I was at the mall the other day and saw a Peter Pan poster! SQUEE! I ran over and gaped at it and am getting excited. ^_^

Shout-outs:

PButtercup - You're playing a fairy? That's so cool! I'm sure you'll do great. ^_^ And nope, I'm still alive and kicking! I have faced this evil, and I have defeated it! *Just a random little Lord of the Rings reference! ^_~ * 

Sallie – Don't worry, I haven't been kidnapped, just trapped behind a wall of testing books. But I managed to escape! ^_~ And you're right, in the books Tinker Bell dies! *Bursts into tears* But I just didn't have the heart to do that to her, so she'll be alive in this story. I like how Peter was pronouncing your name with the wrong spelling, LOL, good one! 

Clips – Here's some more! I've had this chapter planned forever; I just never sat down and wrote it up. But here it is for your viewing pleasure! 

Raven - "Raven: with what my HANDS Peter: Like I said before...just kinda grab his teeth and twist his head..." LOL! Between you and Sallie Peter's always in a fight! *Grins* 

AnimegirlH – Yes, were in trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pan! So it's the very best kind of trouble, really. ^_^ People simply can't go to Neverland and expect to avoid adventures. Here's a little more of the story!

Zorrina – Hook? He's far too cool a character to pass up. And having so many characters is fun in a way, but nerve-wracking in another – it gives me a lot to work with, but then I have to make sure that everyone is in every chapter and such. I'm almost obliged to separate them because there are so many, but I think it will be good for the story! ^_^ Thanks a million for reviewing, and kiss kiss!

Sugar High5 – Wow, what are the odds of that? So again, I totally mean no disrespect to anyone. Good luck with your own stories! *Huggy*

Lyz – Yes, we're in tons of trouble! But that makes things a bit more interesting, don't you think? ^_^ Thank you bunches for reviewing!

Crystalstorm21 – Thank you so much! The update's been a while coming, but it's here now! ^_^

Disclaimer: Peter Pan and all the characters, places, and etc. in it don't belong to me. Your characters all belong to you guys. Captain Kidd was a real person. All the original characters and of course myself in addition to the story and story idea are mine. I'm totally not out to disrespect any race or belief system or such. 

In case you girls don't remember, we're in some pretty big trouble! 

A giant growling Neverwolf is currently cornering Madeline, Nora, Raven, Anna and me! 

Alicia has been wounded by the mermaids and she and Sallie are stuck surrounded by them on Marooner's Rock while the tide is coming in! 

Katrina and Kaela have been captured by Indians! 

Peter and Charlie only just got out of a rumble on the _Jolly Roger_!

We are screwed, my friends! We're screwed and we're more screwed! Let's see if we can think our way out of this one. ^_^

"Hold on to your happy thought!" Peter urges, watching Charlie dip dangerously in the air. 

"It's just. . . so hard. . . I'm tired," she explains, closing her eyes and focusing to get some height again. She opens them slowly. "Peter, what's that down there? Am I seeing things?"

"Where?"

"Down on that rock," she says, pointing.

Peter's sharp eyes snap down to Marooner's Rock. "Oh! That's Sallie and Alicia! How did they get there?" he asks himself, confused.

"I think they're in trouble," Charlie goes on. 

"The mermaids! Follow me," Peter calls, already shooting off towards the rock. 

*

*

*

Raven, Nora, Madeline, Gracie and Anna tense up at the sight of the wolf. It's huge! Madeline could quite easily use it for a pony if it didn't seem so intent on killing them all. The creature lets out a deep-throated growl that sends chills down their spines.

The lost boys stare in panic for a moment, swords drawn, waiting for the animal to strike. But only for a moment.

The boy the others call Wildcat heaves a monumental sigh. "Cut it out, Anders!" he commands the wolf.

As the wolf relaxes its fur and pads calmly over to Wildcat the girls exchange confused glances.

"What just happened?" Raven asks. 

"I have no idea," Nora says sincerely. "Pinch me, am I dead? Ow!" She pinches Raven back. "Not that hard!"

"Ow!" Raven cries, pulling her arm away.

"I guess we're both alive, then," Nora comments, looking wryly at the spot on her arm that Raven pinched so hard it will probably bruise.

Wildcat is talking to the wolf now. "You silly mutt, don't go scaring us! That isn't nice. I have half a mind to tell Peter on you!" he says, scratching its head.

"Oh, it's Anders!" Madeline says cheerily, all terror forgotten in an instant. "Just like in your story, Gracie." Without further ado she runs up to Anders and starts to pet him.

The rest of the girls need a few more seconds to decompress. Thinking you're about to die can really get the adrenaline flowing.

"How did you know?" Anna asks Gracie. "About the wolf, I mean?"

Gracie shakes her head. "I thought I was making it up as I went, but maybe not." 

Anna looks at Gracie for a second then pulls out her copy of _Otherfolk_ and starts thumbing through it madly. "There's a section about telling the future in here. . . let me find it. . ."

"You have a _book_?" one of the smaller lost boys asks her excitedly. "With stories in it?"

"It's not a storybook, exactly," Anna answers, continuing to flip through the pages. "More like a bunch of entries about things."

The lost boy looks confused; he isn't sure what an entry is. 

"Let's get back home," Wildcat says, taking the lead. "We have to get the ladies somewhere safe."

*

*

*

Katrina is furiously working out her gag, which tastes unpleasant in addition to cutting down on the volume of her screams. Kaela does the same, managing to get in the odd kick at her captors from time to time.

Katrina draws a deep breath – the gag is out and she has to act fast. "PETER!" She

shrieks at the top of her lungs. Considering her small size Kat is making a tremendous amount of noise. 

"Oof!"

Kaela smirks through her gag – another one of her kicks has found an Indian shin! The smirk is enough to finally dislodge her gag and she lets out a glass-breaker of a scream.

"This is no good, they are like the howling jasmines of legend!" one of the Indians says irately, nearly getting bitten while re-gagging Katrina. "Every pirate on the island will hear them and find us!"

"Not if you keep them gagged," their leader says harshly. "You know Tiger Lily's orders. All trespassers found at Burning Pond must be taken directly to her. _Alive_."

"Tiger Lily?" Kaela repeats in surprise. Her captor takes advantage of the moment and gags her again, this time tying the knots tighter than usual.

*

*

*

"Sallie, I'm going to die," Alicia says with certainty, watching the water rising around Marooner's Rock while the bloodstain on her nightdress spreads. She tries to sit up but only manages to scream in pain. "I can't swim like this," she continues, gasping for air, "and even if I could there are too many mermaids. I'm done for." A strange look appears in her eyes. "But maybe if they get _me_ there will be enough of a distract- ah! distraction for you to escape," she says earnestly.

"What? No!" Sallie refuses firmly. "I'm not leaving you!"

"You have to!"

"And let you die? Never!"

"It's me or both of us!" Alicia cries. "You have to go!"

"I won't!"

"Alicia!" Peter exclaims, landing on Marooner's Rock. He examines her wound with a grim face. "It looks bad." The mermaids look up at Peter and hiss. "Off with you!" he commands in a rage. They angrily swim away, splashing water up behind them. 

Charlie touches down carefully. That rock is getting pretty crowded. "Alicia?"

"We need to get her to the Indians," Peter says. "They have medicine. Can you fly at all?" he asks Sallie, who is still crouching at her friend's side. 

"No, we got wet and the pixie dust washed away," Sallie explains, completely shocked at the timely rescue. Peter nods and pulls a handful of the stuff from the pouch at his side. He blows some on Sallie and a little bit on Charlie too. 

"I'll take Alicia to the Indians," Peter says in his captain voice, which the girls discover has a soothing effect in times of peril. "I need you to find the cave. Charlie has my knife, so you'll be safe."

Charlie nods and leaps into the air but Sallie stays rooted to the rock. "I'm not leaving her. That's flat."

Peter is about to protest but notices the dangerously determined look in Sallie's eyes and decides not to argue. "Charlie, can you find the cave by yourself?"

"I think so," she says, nodding.

"Good. I'll see you soon."

Charlie heads off for the mountain of boulders with the triple-split top at top speed.

"I can't fly," Alicia tells Peter helplessly. "I can barely sit!"

Sallie is watching the water; it's about two inches from the top of the rock.

"Who says you have to?" Peter asks with a smile that eclipses Kat's pain for a moment. "Hold on to my neck." He lifts the (fortunately small) girl carefully. Sallie gets to her feet and starts to think of Captain Kidd. They fly away just at the tide closes over Marooner's Rock.

*

*

*

"Trespassers," the leader of the scout band says, having Katrina and Kaela thrown at Tiger Lily's feet. "We found them at Burning Pond."

The girls look up at Tiger Lily. She's beautiful! And what's more, she doesn't look like she's out of her teens!

"Why were you on sacred Indian land?" Tiger Lily demands of them. Katrina launches into a vivid explanation that is rendered completely unintelligible by her gag.

"Ungag them, you fools!" Tiger Lily addresses the braves. The warriors do so. "Speak quickly!"

"We were just minding our own business," Katrina begins, stretching her sore jaw.

"When your stupid screwy buddies attacked us out of nowhere!" Kaela continues.

"We don't even care about your little pond thing," Katrina says innocently. "This must all be a big mistake. So what do you say we let bygones be bygones and you set us free?"

"Yupperdoodles! We promise not to go there again if that helps," Kaela offers. "We were so turned around we probably won't be able to find it even if we try."

"And we won't," Katrina agrees.

Tiger Lily glares at them.

*

*

*

Peter lands on his feet in the middle of the Indian encampment, Katrina in his arms. Sallie is right behind him.

"You still haven't answered me!" Sallie says, clearly furious. "Why are you friends with those things? Things that try to kill people!"

"I'm not," Peter says, shooting her a black look. "I can't help it if they don't want to kill _me_."

"A likely story," Sallie says. Alicia sends her a pleading look which, considering her currently pathetic state, is enough to get Sallie to drop it for the moment.

"Where is Falling Shadows?" Peter asks a passing brave, captain voice in full swing. "My friend is hurt and I need his help."

"White Eagle!" the brave says with surprise, bowing his head. "We are honored to have you in our-"

"Yes I know, but there isn't time for that now. Where is he?"

"There," the brave says, gesturing to a wigwam not far off. Peter thanks him politely and takes Alicia inside.

"Oh, Great Spirit!" Falling Shadows cries, looking at the wounded girl with sorrow. "How did this happen?" He hurriedly reaches for some herbs.

"Mermaid attack," Peter says simply, carefully putting Alicia down on a bearskin. "Will you help her?"

"Of course, White Eagle. What is her name?"

"It's Alicia," Sallie says. "And I'm Sallie. Who are you?" she asks shortly, clearly suspicious of this stranger.

"Falling Shadows is the chief's son," Peter tells her. "Tiger Lily's brother." In addition to being the chief's son Falling Shadows is also tall and muscular, although leaner than most of the braves. 

_That's a weird name,_ Alicia thinks. _I wonder if they gave it to him because of the way the light hits his cheekbones like that? Probably not._

"He's a healer," Peter continues. 'He'll take care of you. When will she be healed?" Peter asks Falling Shadows. 

"With the right herbs she shall be well in a quarter of a moon," the healer responds, grinding some small flowers together with a mortar and pestle. "She can leave tomorrow night if you promise to keep her at home several days."

"We will. I'll be back for her tomorrow. Now I have to find the others," Peter says.

*

*

*

"Gracie, Anna, everybody!" Charlie lands in the midst of the orphaned girls and lost boys. "I finally found you!"

"Charlie!" Anna flings her arms around her friend. "Where's Peter? Did he – tell me he didn't!" she cries in a rush. "Oh, no!"

"Peter's fine," Charlie says, rushing through the story of fighting the pirates, finding Alicia and Sallie on Marooner's Rock, and all that followed.

"Did you see Kaela or Katrina?" Nora asks. "We can't find them anywhere."

Charlie shakes her head. "I don't know where they are."

"They always disappeared at the orphanage," Madeline says hopefully, as if Kaela and Katrina might be playing a game on them.

"Usually around chore time," Nora observes.

"Which was all the time," Raven adds. It's amazing how little we saw them some days."

"I wonder where they went?" Gracie muses, looking up from the "Foretelling of the Future" section of _Otherfolk_ which Anna pointed out to her.

"Probably out clubbing," Nora says.

"Somehow I doubt that." 

"Who's this?" the twins ask, interrupting the discussion and eyeing Charlie suspiciously. Charlie stares back with a frank expression.

"This is Charlie," Raven says. "She knows Peter too." To prove this as quickly as possible Raven takes Charlie's hand and waves it in the air, green-button ring clearly displayed. "So don't even start with all that pirate, spy junk again."

"We're here," Wildcat says, disappearing into a rather narrow crack in the boulders. The others follow.

*

*

*

Peter strides out of the wigwam and is immediately confronted by Tiger Lily. "My braves told me you had come," she says. "One of your band is injured?"

"Yes. Your brother is healing her for me."

"_Her?_" Tiger Lily asks incredulously.

"She's a girl."

"You are not the only one with problems, White Eagle," Tiger Lily says, trying to change a subject she doesn't like. "We caught trespassers at Burning Pond not two hours ago."

"Pirates?"

"I do not believe so. We cannot tell what they are. My men are calling them the Howling Jasmines."

"I should like to see them," Peter says with great interest. "Where are they?"

"There," Tiger Lily says with distaste, pointing to Kaela and Katrina, who are currently bound and gagged outside the chief's wigwam. 

Tiger Lily stares at Peter like he's lost his wits; he's broken into a fit of laughter. "You have to let them go," he says between bursts, "The **_howling jasmines_** are _my_ braves!"

"You know them?" Tiger Lily asks, walking towards the girls and cutting their bonds. With their hands free Kaela and Katrina manage to ungag themselves. "How many girls are _on_ this island now?"

Peter does some hurried calculations on his hands. "At least eleven, counting you," he says. "Twelve with Tinker Bell."

"Twelve?!" Tiger Lily takes a deep breath and manages to suppress her rage at all this new competition. She can only just compose herself. "May the Great Spirit guide your paths, White Eagle," she says formally, then turns on her heel and saunters off with a great deal of dignity.

"Who spit on _her_ wampum?" Katrina asks sarcastically.

"Come on girls, I'll take you to the cave," Peter offers, rising in flight.

*

*

*

So YAY! I updated! Woo-hoo! *Throws confetti in the air and toasts with sparkling cider* 

Perhaps in the next chapter we shall learn more about the lost boys. ^_~

Please review, guys! Your reviews are like GOLD to me! Only no flames, flames are like thinking that you've struck it rich and then discovering that all you have is fools' gold!


	8. Are you my mother?

Hey guys! ^_^ The update's finally here!

I admit that it took its dear sweet time to show up – I expect that it got lost on surface streets or something like that. But it's finally arrived, huzzah! *Tosses confetti in the air*

The Shout-outs: 

Jessi – Thank you so much for reading! ^_^ As for who will end up with whom – that remains to be seen. ^_~ 

Crystalstorm21 – Here's another chapter! It's been awhile, but the story is still going!

Zorrina - *High-fives you* UPDATE! Whoo! *Jumps around in circles*

PButtercup – Yeah, poor Tiger Lily! She's gone from having to deal with one girl as her competition to like, eleven! Good luck with your SATs! *Hugs* 

DANI! – Aw, thanks! ^_^ Here's some more!

oi-oi-oi (Sallie) – Nope, I wasn't kidnapped this time. I was busy with the holidays, is all. _"Not all men are annoying. Some are dead."_ Put that on a bumper sticker girl, because it's sooo funny! LOL

Sugar High5 – _"I got an early acceptance to Blake High School for the Performing Arts."_ GO YOU! *Cheers wildly and whistles* That sounds awesome, I hope you love it there! ^_^ 

Raven – How does he do it? Peter's just _that_ clever. ^_^ 

Written Sparks – Thank you **so** much for reading my story and reviewing, it means a lot to me. Had this been a few months ago things might have been different, but now that there's this giant Peter Pan flux going on since the movie came out I'm afraid if I squeezed in one more person I would end up with about a gazillion more requests to be in the story, which I just couldn't manage. I'm sorry. I hope you understand.

Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Peter Pan and all the characters, places, and etc. in it don't belong to me. Your characters all belong to you guys. "Thing One and Thing Two" are from Dr. Seuss. All the original characters and of course myself in addition to the story and story idea are mine. I'm totally not out to disrespect any race or belief system or such.

"Come on Tink, at least say hello," one of the boys cajoles outside Tinker Bell's "apartment" – it's really a Victorian jewelry box hung up with vines. 

Angry chiming is the only reply. The boy turns away and smiles apologetically at the girls. "Sorry she isn't very polite."

"What did you say, Tink?" Another boy asks, clearly upset. He's very tan but has light brown hair, which gives him a rather unmatched look.

The irate bell-like sounds are repeated, louder this time.

"Don't talk about my mother that way!" The boy says, balling up his fists menacingly. "Or you'll regret it!"

"Shut up Switch," one of the twins says. 

"You don't even have a mother!" the other adds. 

"Well, _one_ of the ladies will be my mother, so I don't want Tink saying bad things about them!" Switch says huffily. "And if you're true English gentlemen then neither will you!"

Well, that does it. The boys all prepare to valiantly defend the orphans from whatever Tink is calling them. Wildcat draws his sword, the twins put up their dukes, and one of the boys even readies a slingshot for fire.

"Whoa, back up!" Nora insists, stepping between the boys and Tink's apartment. All the weapons go down in an instant.

"Who said anything about being anybody's mother?" Raven demands.

"You're ladies, aren't you?" The boy with the slingshot asks.

"Yes," Charlie says flatly. "And you think that that automatically makes us your mothers?"

"That's right!" the littlest lost boy cries, his eyes lighting up as he breaks into a giant smile. Charlie's tone is utterly lost on him. "There are so many that we'll all get our very own!"

"We won't even have to share!" the twins realize as one.

"Dibs!" Switch shouts, making a mad dive for Nora.

"That isn't fair, you can't call dibs! DIBS!" the boy with the slingshot hollers, attaching himself to the hem of Gracie's pajamas.

The free-for-all that follows is easily imagined. Anna is nearly pulled in half when each of the twins grabs one of her arms and they start a tug-of-war. It's all going completely insane and Tinker Bell is watching them, laughing like a maniac.

"You have to help me!" Raven hollers to Wildcat over the din. "Stop them!"

"Company, **fall _in!_**" Wildcat booms. The boys immediately desist and form a (mostly) straight line.

"Wow," Raven says, impressed in spite of herself. Wildcat's little stunt isn't much when compared to Peter's captain voice, but then it's nothing to sneeze at either. "How come you can do that?"

"I'm lieutenant," Wildcat says with a modest smile. "That means _I'm in charge_ while Peter isn't home," he adds, shooting a look at the shamefaced boys. "And I say that you don't have any idea how ladies should be treated. We haven't even introduced ourselves."

The boys look guiltily at one another- it's the truth.

"But we can fix that. I'm Wildcat," he says, sweeping into a surprisingly formal bow. Raven has the sudden thought that if he was wearing a tuxedo instead of deerskin she might be very close to being smitten. Dark and handsome has always worked for her, and apparently it still does. 

"Boys, fall in!"

"I'm Black," one of the twins says, stepping forward.

"And I'm Blue," the other twin finishes.

"We're very sorry," they tell Anna, bowing their sandy-red heads in shame.

"That's okay," Anna says, gracious as a queen. Then something in her expression changes. "Do it again and I'll show you the meaning of karate," she warns.

The tan boy with light hair decides that it's his turn. He smiles winningly. "The name's Switch. I'm two-tongued."

The girls stare blankly for a good minute and a half.

"You have _two tongues_?" Madeline asks in tones of disgust.

Tinker Bell makes a rather snippy comment, but the boys have long since been desensitized to her and none of the girls can speak her language yet, although Madeline thinks she can catch a word or two.

"I speak Italian," Switch explains.

"That doesn't mean you're two-tongued, sweetie. We call that _bilingual_," Gracie explains.

The Lost Boys gasp.

"She called him sweetie!"

"Switch always gets everything. He has an extra tongue and now he's got a mother too!" The littlest lost boy sulks.

"I've only got one tongue," Switch counters. The boys launch into an argument.

"Why did you do that?" Nora hisses in Gracie's ear. 

"I – I don't know," Gracie says uneasily. "It just popped out!"

"Boys, we didn't finish," Wildcat prompts in his lieutenant voice, attempting to restore something like order. "Keep going. Slingshot, you're next."

A green-eyed boy steps forward awkwardly, using his feet to trace circles in the sandy bottom of the cave. "Uh – my name is Slingshot and I'm good with a slingshot. Be my mother?" he asks, getting down on one knee.

Since he's looking at the girls in general and none of them in particular nobody quite knows what to say. Nora is more surprised than anybody when she hears herself blurting, "I'd love to be your mother!"

Raven sharply elbows her friend in the ribs. "What are you doing?"

Nora shrugs helplessly.

"I think it's called adopting," Gracie says with a laugh. "Who else wants a mother, boys?"

"I do!"

"I do!"

"Me!"

"Why do I always have to go last?" The littlest lost boy demands. "I want a mother too!"

"You go last because you're the littlest," Switch says matter-of-factly.

"Don't listen to him," Gracie says, ruffling the boy's hair. "We save you for last because you're the most important!"

The little boy smiles – his front teeth are out and it's rather adorable. "I'm Quiz! Why's that my name?" He asks Wildcat. 

"Because you're always asking questions!" Wildcat cries.

*

*

*

Sallie is half-asleep but completely irritated. Falling Shadows just finished dressing Alicia's wound and now they're whispering together; Sallie gets the distinct impression that Alicia would appreciate it if she disappeared for a while. A dull throb begins in her forehead. After a few minutes Sallie realizes that the pulsing pain is tied to something else – the sound of infants screaming not far off.

"I'm gonna go tell them to shut the brats up," Sallie mumbles, but it's doubtful that 

Falling Shadows and Alicia even register the fact that she's gone.

*

*

* 

"That's where we sleep," Wildcat says, waving to a small back chamber of the cave. It's strewn with mismatched animal skins and lopsided pillows. "It's pretty crowded, but there are only ten of you, once your friends get here. We should be able to find some room."

Raven and Nora exchange glances. Was it possible to simply _find some room_ for ten extra people, even in Neverland?

"Remember what I said about cramming," Gracie advises in a whisper. "We'll be fine."

The boys leap to attention when they hear Peter crow. He, Kaela and Katrina slip into the cave. "Oh good, you found it!" Peter says. 

"Where were you?" Charlie asks the girls.

"Captured," Katrina answers with a nonchalant grin. It's the first time in her life that she's had the opportunity for adventure and she's savoring acting unimpressed.

"By Tiger Lily's scouts," Kaela adds. "Stupid screwy ropes burned me!" she says contemptuously, holding up her wounded wrists for all to see.

Anna makes a sound of concern and begins to examine the severity of the rope burns. "You'll live," she says after a minute, sighing with relief and giving a small smile.

"And they gave us a nickname too," Katrina says. "The Indians, I mean."

Madeline looks up with interest. "Thing One and Thing Two?"

Kaela snorts. "No! They call us _The Howling Jasmines_."

"Really?"

"Yupperdoodles!" Kaela says cheerfully. "Neat, huh?"

"This is yours," Charlie says, handing Peter back his knife. He bows a brief acknowledgement and tucks it into his belt. 

"Look Kaela, Lost boys!"

"Mother, which one's which?" Black asks Nora.

"Kaela has the brown eyes and Katrina has the blue ones," Nora explains. "Not to mention their faces don't look anything alike," she adds, eyeing her "son" with some trepidation.

"Whoa, why is he calling you mother?" Katrina asks Nora. "He looks your age!"

"It's a game," Nora says in a no-duh tone.

"Oh."

"So all the Lost Boys have mothers now? Great!" Kaela says. "Who adopted who?"

"These three are mine." Gracie gestures to Switch, Quiz, and Blue. 

"And me too!" Madeline interjects. 

"What, Mads?" Gracie asks in surprise.

"I'm Gracie's too!"

Nora indicates Wildcat, Slingshot, and Black. "These are my little monsters," she says ironically – both Wildcat and Black are taller than she is. 

*

*

*

Sallie stamps off into the jungle, snapping twigs and getting whacked in the face by low-hanging branches.

"That dumb pirate couldn't get the kids to shut up," she soliloquizes, "and not only that, he wouldn't tell me about Hook!" She quiets for a moment to jump over a small stream. "Not that I'd believe him. Any pirate stupid enough to be made a slave of instead of standing and fighting his ground is just pathetic." She goes a bit further into the heart of the island, saying rude things about pirate nurses and mulling over the fact that Alicia and Falling Shadows are back in the Indian Encampment chatting it up like old friends. "But do I have anyone to talk to? Of course not. Just myself. It's probably better that way anyway; it's a good idea to speak with the most intelligent person around." Laughing to herself, Sallie closes her eyes for a second. Unfortunately this second coincides with the appearance of a rather large tree branch at eye level. Sallie walks straight into the branch. With a resounding **Thwack! **she sees stars and falls to her knees.

Her nose gets the worst of it and hurts terribly; to make matters worse the pain in Sallie's face is triggering a crying reflex. The tears come and there's not a lot she can do about them.

_The same way I can't do anything about being stuck on this stupid island. I don't even know the way home,_ she thinks. _I – I don't even **have** a home,_ she realizes all of a sudden, which makes her so depressed that tears flow completely without connection to the whole Indian Encampment fiasco. Since nobody is there to see (and she'd rather die than let someone find her in the midst of tears) Sallie lets loose and cries her heart out. It's not until about twenty minutes later that she reins in the sobbing and attempts to calm herself, trying to steady her breathing and choke down her emotions.

Sallie opens her eyes but can't see very well through the tears. _Stupid,_ she thinks, _you need to see. Didn't Gracie's stories have an alligator in them or something? How'd you like to be snuck up on by **that**? _This thought is sobering enough to make her attempt to stop crying in earnest. Once the tears are wiped away and she can see Sallie gasps.

A pale hand is offering her a handkerchief – 

One embroidered _Jas. Hook_.

*

*

*

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Wow, that took me forever to get out! The thing is I'm just losing the inspiration for this story . . . so I don't know if there will be any more, or if there will how long it will take me to get it out. I don't want to abandon it (especially after the way this chapter ends! ^_^) but maybe in the future not every chapter will have every girl in it – I hope y'all are good enough to understand.

Please review guys, they mean sooo much to me! ^_^ Reviews are like going to a cool party! But no flames, flames are like not being invited to a cool party! 

A/N: I know it's a crocodile, not an alligator, but Sallie never paid much attention to Gracie's stories so it's an honest mistake for her. ^_^

To Sallie – Remember, I'm not killing off your character, honest! But she always wanted to meet Hook, and this is her chance! Also, if the crying was a bit weird – well, I hope you can see it happening. Between the pain and the being genuinely depressed I think that a few tears were not uncalled for.

I hope you guys liked this chapter! ^_^ 


	9. Sallie and Hook

Hello everybody! ^_^

I tried this writing exercise in which you speak directly to a character as if he or she is actually there, that way you may be able to develop a better understanding of how to write them. I attempted it with Hook – and it worked! Perhaps a little too well, because it was actually intimidating for me. But anywho, long story short, here's a new chapter! 

Not all the characters will be mentioned in this chapter – primarily it's an exchange between Sallie and Hook. Hook!

Disclaimer: Peter Pan and etc. are _sooo_ not mine (which is not to say I wouldn't like it if they were). Captain Kidd was historical. All of my reviewers' characters belong to said reviewers, as far as I know. I belong to me, Madeline belongs to me, and the story idea and etc. are all mine. Don't sue!

A/N: There's some alcohol in this chapter (someone has a little wine, but that person is well over 21 so it's all legal), but I just want it to be clear that I'm not an advocate of drinking at all, much less underage drinking. So don't drink, my dears! Health permitting, go for an extremely sugary soda instead! ^_^ You would be amazed at the stuff I think up after a few sodas. I've been told that apples also work, but I haven't really tested that method yet. 

Shout-outs:

Clips – Alicia was in a lot of pain, what with an open wound and all. But she's had a little time to heal now, and wounds heal ever so beautifully in Neverland – so we'll see what happens. ^_^ Thank you so much for reviewing my story! *Hugs*

Crystalstorm21 – I'm glad you liked it! Here's the next chapter!

AnimegirlH – Aw, thank you hun! *Hugs* Hook and Sallie…speaking to each other…what will happen? Dun dun dun! 

Sallie – Sallie and Peter are fighting – all is right with the world once more, LOL! ^_^ I've kept you waiting long enough. Here it is – Sallie and Hook!

"Captain Kidd," Sallie says to herself, looking at a portrait of the pirate with recognition. A long gash runs across the painting, suspiciously similar to the mark a hook might make if wielded by someone skilled and angry.

"An old friend," Hook says shortly, reclining in a chair beneath the windows in his cabin. "You have heard of him?"

Sallie nods. "If you were friends, then why…?" She lets her question trail off, but gives the gash across Kidd's portrait and the Captain and meaningful look. 

"We had a falling out," Hook says darkly. It's getting late and the sun is hovering closer and closer to the horizon, throwing slanted orange light through the windows of the _Jolly Roger_. The hook has recently been polished and shines in the late light; dazzling brightness momentarily clouds judgement and makes it look almost innocent, like something pretty.

_He's killed with it,_ Sallie reminds herself, taking a seat across the table from the Captain. _And he'll kill again._

"I understand you have an interest in pirates?" Hook asks with an amused smile. At least, he intends it to appear amused; Sallie finds herself wondering if everything this man does is carefully calculated before hand, and if so, for how long. There was no way he could have known that she would be in the forest today – or was there?

"Naturally," she replies, meeting his gaze without fear.

"Then why join Peter Pan?" Hook keeps his expression sociable, yet something he cannot quite control flashes in his eyes at the name of his nemesis.

"I've already told you. I was trapped in an orphanage and I had to escape _somehow_." Sallie's face remains blank at the memory of being found in the forest by Captain Hook and a band of pirates, crying at the time, no less. After that display she can show no weakness. 

"Surely the opportunity must have arose for a clever child like yourself-" 

"I'm not a child!" Sallie interjects sharply. Hook's behavior up until now makes Sallie expect an immediate apology; he's been extremely obliging so far. But that's not what happens.

Hook is silent for a long moment. His eyes turn a darker shade of blue and he appraises Sallie closely. Then he does something surprising - he sits back as if realizing his mistake. "No." A pause. "No, you are not a child."

"I'm fourteen," Sallies says seriously. "Nearly fifteen." This isn't the truth. Sallie was still approaching fourteen when she came to Neverland, but she pulls off the lie convincingly.

"I begin to understand you," Hook says, taking a sip of wine. A full glass sits conspicuously in front of Sallie, and full it shall remain. _He has too many advantages already,_ Sallie thinks. _First with finding me crying, and this is **his** ship. I'm sure he can hold his liquor, and judging from that ancient-looking wine bottle on the table I'm guessing it's pretty strong. Probably a good year, too._

"To live among inferior minds for so long – what torture."

The pirates choose this moment to stomp about loudly on deck, illustrating the Captain's point perfectly. Hook passes his hand over his eyes as if this truly is too much. "You see? You have been living with children, but I have been living with dogs," he ends contemptuously, shooting a murderous glare towards the cabin door.

"You have my sympathy," Sallie says with a sincerity that surprises her.

"And you have mine. As a kindred spirit, I have a proposition to offer."

Sallie sits up a bit straighter. She had known Hook was getting to something all along, otherwise there would have been no reason to keep her alive and take her back to the _Jolly Roger_. "What is it?"

"The position of lieutenant aboard my ship," Captain Hook says seriously. Sallie sits still, completely stunned. "As well as a double share in all our plunder," Hook continues. "Once we put out to sea we can make ourselves rich beyond your wildest imaginings. Gold, jewels, silk and more. I was feared before I came to Neverland when I had nothing to work with but a crew of imbeciles. Now with a woman of intelligence as my right hand," here he stops, allowing the significance of that statement to sink in and brandishing his hook, "we shall be the greatest pirates in all history. The world is our oyster, Sallie."

This is a very tempting proposition. Sallie deliberates before speaking. "I'll go with you," she says at length.

"Excellent," Hook says, satisfied. "There remains only one thing to be done before we depart to enter our career of fame and glory. I must kill Peter Pan. For this I need your help, friend."

_Whoa, this changes everything! _Sallie thinks, biting her thumbnail reflectively._ Hook called me his friend. No! Focus, Sallie. The important thing is he wants me to help kill Peter… Well, good riddance to him! _She is totally resolved for a good ten seconds and about to offer Hook help, but then another thought, much less pleasant, runs across her mind. _Alicia will be upset if Peter dies. She might never forgive me, even though I practically saved her life back there at Marooner's Rock._ She can see Alicia's face perfectly the moment she learns that Peter is dead. It will be twisted out of it usual happy expression, much like it looked before her wound was tended. And afterwards when she learns that Sallie has helped – _no. Never. I can't help Hook kill him._

"I am certain you are a gifted actress," Hook says. "You must return to Peter and act as if nothing has happened. Tomorrow you must lead him and his band to a certain place – I will show you where – and there I shall have my men make a show of capturing you. It is imperative that you struggle and make the false abduction look real. They will take you back to the _Jolly Roger_, where you will be released to take up your position as lieutenant and we shall have a laugh at that foolish boy. Naturally he will come to rescue you, and when he does he will see that you have turned on him. He will be so undone that he shan't be able to fly, and then I shall have my revenge for _this_," the Captain says, lifting his hook in the air. The sun is dipping below the horizon now and its dying rays paint the hook a murderous red.

*

*

*

"I don't care, Falling Shadows. I'm going to find her!" Alicia exclaims, grabbing her handsome nurse's arm and pulling herself up to her feet with effort. "Where did that brave tell you he saw her?"

"Sallie entered the forest," Falling Shadows says, helping to steady Alicia. "You are too ill to leave the encampment. Your wound may reopen if you do too much too soon."

"Like I said, I don't care," Alicia says. "I'm going after her. So are you coming or what?"

*

*

*

Sallie heads back to the Indian Encampment, running over the events of the day. First Neverland, then mermaids, then Alicia, and now this. _Should I even go to that place in the forest tomorrow? What if I don't, will Hook think I've betrayed him? How can I get out of this?_ A quiet, somewhat whiny voice that Sallie tries to avoid believing is the same one she uses habitually whispers, _I really wanted to be a pirate_. _Well, tough,_ the rest of her says. _I'll just have to think of something else. Maybe I can get Hook to leave without killing Peter._ She sighs. "How am I going to do that?"

"Do what?" Alicia asks, appearing ahead in the deepening night. Falling Shadows has one of her arms over his shoulders and is trying to support as much of her weight as possible.

"Nothing," Sallie answers hurriedly. "Glad to see you're up. Let's head back for the night, I'm beat." 

DUN DUN DUN!

***

Please review, guys! Reviews are like shiny new pennies! ^_^ But no flames, flames are like old icky money that you try to get rid of immediately!

So what did y'all think of Gracie's attempt at writing Captain Hook? *Gracie points emphatically at the **no flames** request above*

I don't know if this story is going anywhere else, but I just couldn't leave Sallie hanging like that. Or Hook either, after my little writing exercise. The story seemed to want this chapter added, do you know what I mean?

Love to my reviewers! ^_^ Love and hugs!


	10. Scouting and Such

Hello, everyone. : ) It's been awhile, but I feel like you deserve some closure (leaving the story that way was majorly not nice of me). Here's more of the story, and there's more on the way! (At least one more chapter, since I've already written it.)  
  
Shout-outs:  
  
Clips – Hi Kelsy! The story's finally going again. Enjoy the chapter, and thanks for reviewing! : )  
  
Crystalstorm21 – Thank you for following my story and reviewing, I'm glad that you like it.  
  
Sallie – I'm blushing! Thanks. Fortunately the story isn't over yet, as you can see! Enjoy the update, Sallie. : ) At least, I hope you do!  
  
AnimegirlH – Here's the update, finally! Yeah, I know... it took a long time getting here... it must have been captured by pirates or something, and just now managed to escape. I hope that you like it a lot, it features a sewing Anna!  
  
Sugar High5 – Hi there! I hope that tennis and your plays and stuff are going great. And your drunk hobbit minions with the old cheese paid me a visit, it was quite frightening! I jumped up onto a stool where they couldn't get me, but still, it was hours until they spotted my refrigerator and left me alone long enough so I could escape!  
  
kewlausgirl – I do believe in fairies, I do, I do! You're totally right about the star thing Kylez, I guess this story's Neverland is sort of a mishmash of my favorite parts of the book, the several movies, and my own imagination. I like the star part lots too, so I put it in. : )  
  
Disclaimer: Peter Pan, its characters, places, and etc. don't belong to me. I'm using them without permission. All of the orphans except for Gracie and Madeline belong to various nice folks who are letting me use them in this story. Gracie and Madeline are mine, as are Falling Shadows, these particular lost boys, and all the rest of the original stuff. Don't sue me!  
  
"I've got a great idea!" Kaela says. "It'll be so fun – Kat, let's steal the hook!"  
The whole cave goes suddenly and completely silent. Nobody's breathing is audible, and it's actually doubtful whether anyone is breathing at all. Kaela's starting to feel uncomfortably as if she's made a mistake.  
That is, until a slow smile breaks out over Peter's face. Everyone sighs with relief and starts chattering excitedly.  
"He'll be furious!" Katrina giggles.  
Raven nods. "That'll show him."  
Slingshot's face lights up. "And the best part is he'll have to beat the island to find us and take it back!"  
"It'll be awfully exciting," the twins agree.  
"Great idea," Peter says. "Then I could attack him with it! I'd catch a codfish on its own hook," he says with a wicked grin. The boys erupt into laughter. "Who wants to scout out his cabin tonight and see where he keeps it?"  
"We do!" Nora and Raven say at the same time, grabbing each other's shoulders.  
"Me too," Charlie says. "I want another swipe at those pirates."  
"In a nightgown?" Anna points out. "Give me an hour and you'll have a pair of shorts instead of fabric to your ankles."  
Charlie sees the sense in Anna's words; the scouts agree to hold off for an hour.  
"Does anybody have a knife that I can borrow?" Anna asks politely.  
"Me!" Switch says immediately, pulling one from a cluster of several dug into his belt.  
"Thanks," Anna says. "Charlie, hold still. I'd hate to cut you open by accident." She cuts off enough of the nightgown so that the bottoms of Charlie's knees show, then starts sewing away with a stray needle. The shorts take shape quickly, while the fascinated lost boys look on.  
"I can't wait to see the Jolly Roger again," Charlie says, hopping into her new shorts. "Thank you, Anna. What I mean is, the ship's gorgeous. Since they never put out to sea all the painting and scrollwork just keep adding up. I didn't have enough time to look properly, since I was fighting."  
Gracie has been awfully quiet for the last hour. "Charlie, did you see him? Hook?"  
There goes that dratted silence again.  
The girl nods, put a bit off-balance by this second lull in the noise level. "He's just like you've always told us," Charlie says. "Except more."  
Madeline shivers at the thought; the older girls exchange glances in a way that Peter doesn't understand, but is certain he doesn't like at all.  
"Come with us," Raven says, catching the spear that Wildcat tosses to her. "You know the most about him, Gracie."  
Gracie agrees to come along. Peter and the lost boys give the girls a few weapons for protection, while Tinker Bell makes rude remarks about the number of pieces they'll come back in, if at all. They set out for the Jolly Roger

. . . . . .

"Stay low to the water," Charlie advises. "They'll be scanning the clouds for us, not the ocean."  
The girls smile. Nora rubs her hands together. "This should be fun."  
"And whispers from now on," Gracie says, lowering her voice. "Some of those pirates have good hearing."  
They fly low, practically skimming the sea. The sun is already sinking towards the west, painting the sky with red and gold.  
The girls cluster up around a portal that apparently gives light to the captain's cabin, making sure to stay away from the stern windows where they wouldn't have a chance of evading notice.  
"Hook!" Raven whispers.  
He has a dangerous expression on his face. "True to form," Nora murmurs, rolling her eyes.  
"Hey, he's talking to somebody!" Gracie whispers. "Can anyone tell who it is? My angle's all wrong."  
"It's – a lady," Charlie whispers with shock.  
Nora gasps. "That's no lady, that's Sallie!"  
"But why is she talking to him?" Charlie asks.  
Raven's gaze darkens. "Do you think she's betrayed us?"  
"I'm not sure."  
"Shhh!"  
They watch the scene unfolding a bit more, including a little kleptomania on Sallie's part and the hook catching some of the dying sunlight, which turns it blood red.  
A bit later Raven, Nora, Charlie, and Gracie squish themselves flat against the ship and watch Sallie being rowed ashore.  
"Can you believe it?" Raven says. "She must be working with them!"  
"We'd better go tell Peter," Charlie whispers.  
"I think not," a pirate says, throwing a rope around the girls

. . . . . .

"Sallie, where'd this come from?" Alicia asks curiously, picking up a dagger wrapped in something.  
"Nothing," Sallie says quickly, snatching it away. It is in fact the handkerchief that Hook gave her, wrapped around a dagger that Sallie pocketed while Hook was looking away. "I – I found it."  
"Can I see?" Alicia persists.  
Sallie says no, then leaves the teepee under the pretext of looking for a bathroom.  
"I wonder what's eating her," Alicia comments.  
"She is being eaten?" Falling Shadows asks, aghast. Alicia has to stop him from sounding an alarm.  
"No," she says, both hands still held firmly over his mouth. "That's just a figure of speech. It means What's upsetting her? Understand?"  
"Mmmph-mm," Falling Shadows says.  
"Whoops, sorry," Alicia giggles, and takes her hands away. . . . . .  
Katrina tries to teach the lost boys how to do some dances. It's not going particularly well, although she's managed to lead them in a very loud, off-key version of Footloose.  
"Now we'll teach you a game," Quiz says. "It's called Dead Man's Ankle!" (A/N: This is a real game. I made it up myself.) Kaela, Anna, Katrina, and Madeline are immediately bombarded by as many variant explanations of the game as there are lost boys in the cave, but after a few practical demonstrations they get the hang of it and are hopping around fairly well, not falling over nearly as much as one might expect.  
"Peter," Anna says, stopping mid-hop, "Haven't the scouts been gone a long time?"  
"What?"  
"The scouts," she says, a bit shocked. "Charlie, Raven, Nora and Gracie?"  
"Oh! It has been awhile."  
"Probably about three hours," Anna says worriedly, looking at the dark forest outside the cave's crack of an opening. "It's night!"  
"That reminds me!" Peter says, leaping into the air and very nearly smacking his head against the roof of the cave. "I have to go get Alicia and Sallie!"  
"But Peter – "  
He's flying toward the Indian Encampment before another word can be spoken

. . . . . .

"Well," Nora says with a snort, "this isn't quite what I envisioned when we set out."  
The four of them are roped together in a circle, their backs to each other's backs. They try standing up a few times, but always fall over, getting someone hurt in the process. Charlie has a skinned knee, Raven's developing a bruise, and both Gracie and Nora have a few scrapes of their own.  
"How could we have let this happen to us?" Raven asks, furious with herself, the pirates, and everyone in general.  
Gracie sighs. "At least they haven't killed us straight off. That's a good sign, right?"  
"They must want us for ransom," Charlie says bluntly. "Or something like that. To help get Peter here."  
"Hook's using us to trap Peter? That son of a - "  
"Nora!"  
"Well?" Nora snaps. "What am I supposed to call him?"

. . . . .

"Look what I found!" Peter says, thrusting Alicia and Sallie into the cave. "A couple of girls wandering around outside!" He laughs at his own joke and settles down in a pile of skins.  
"What about the scouts?" Anna asks him. "They could be in danger!"  
"It's too late to do anything about it now. We'll look for them tomorrow," he says, unconcerned.  
"How's your tummy, Alicia?" Madeline asks while scratching the place between Anders' ears. "They told me you got hurt!"  
"I'm fine," Alicia says with a smile. "If you think I look bad, you should see what I did to that mermaid!" Kaela and Katrina laugh.  
"What's this about scouts?" Sallie asks Anna.  
"Gracie, Nora, Charlie, and Raven went to see where Hook keeps his hook. They left hours ago, but we haven't seen them since."  
Sallie pales. "They went to the Jolly Roger? When exactly?"  
"I didn't bring a watch with me," Anna says, "but it's been a long time."  
Sallie's thoughts are racing a million miles per minute. _Did they see me? What happened to them? They could be dead. Hey, Gracie could be dead...Big picture, Sallie. Hook might have killed them. Or be holding them hostage. Or they're just bumming around having a party on the beach. Did Hook capture them because he knows I don't like them? Okay...I'm not making sense. But this doesn't make sense! Why would Hook align himself with a teenage girl?...He wouldn't. Ever. He's using me to get to Peter! That black-hearted, scabrous dog! So the question is, do I go to the glade he showed me or not? It might be the only way to get to the missing girls... but it might be the deaths of us all._  
Dun dun dun!  
  
Please review guys, reviews make me happy! They're like when vending machines give you more than one soda! But no flames, flames are like when you put in your money and no soda will come out! (Maybe those two are linked somehow.) 


	11. And the Girls are Still in Trouble

Hello again dears! Here's another chapter of the story. I hope that you like it, I had a lot of fun writing it! It actually sort of wrote itself, which was great. The next chapter is already written, but it needs some light to middling revision before I can post it.

Shout-outs:

AnimegirlH – LOL, the situations we get ourselves into! Captured, attacked by mermaids occasionally, and faced down by wolves – at least it's never boring, huh?

ShortAtntionSpaz – Have I ever told you how much fun the little pearls of wisdom at the end of your reviews are? 'Cause they rock! You must have a million of them. I can't fit any more characters in, actually the story is winding down – two chapters to go after this one, and they're really plotted out already. But I bet you could take your idea and make a great Peter Pan fic of your own! : )

Sallie – LOL! : ) I love your version of Sallie and Hook, it was so funny! Thank you for reviewing, and this time I'm updating reasonably quickly. I hope you like this chapter!

Crystalstorm21 – That's fine, it took me forever to update. Thanks for reviewing!

Lyz – I feel your pain. Finals are the bane of my existence. I've had nervous breakdowns when they role around. Good luck, I hope that you do great, and enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Please just reference the ones in the story before this. Nothing from Peter Pan belongs to me, and neither do most of the orphans. Gracie, Madeline, Falling Shadows, and all the other original stuff is mine. I'm making no money from this. Please don't sue me, 'kay?

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Kaela asks Peter, skipping along the faint path next to him. "I think we've been down this way before. Not that I mind," she pipes, twirling off in a circle. "It's _so_ beautiful!"

They are currently traversing a very nice part of the island, where friendly little songbirds tame enough to eat out of your hand live. They make their nests in purple jasmines as big as your head. Katrina is delighted when Black catches her one to look at. It gets comfy in the palm of her hand, chirping sweetly, then flies away.

"I know where we are," Peter assures Kaela. "The island keeps moving around. The pieces of it. You see, it's very small," he says, jumping over a large fern in the middle of the path, "but the pieces almost never stay in the same place."

Anna seems excited. "Really? I've read about things like that! How do you keep track of where's where?"

"You don't," Peter says flatly.

"Oh."

"But I can always tell," he adds cockily, with a confident smile.

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"Get down there, lad!" A pirate bellows above deck. "And make it fast, ya bloomin' cockroach!"

A hatch opens creakily, allowing a little early sunlight to spill into the belly of the ship. Up until now the girls have been making do with the light of a small, weak lantern, which they were lucky to get anyway. Someone scampers down a ladder carefully balancing a bucket. He stands in front of the girls.

"I know you!" Charlie says, squinting up at the ship's cabin boy. "You're the one who couldn't shoot."

The cabin boy flushes with embarrassment and anger, turning red to the roots of his blond hair. "I can shoot! I- I wasn't ready," he snaps defensively. "We wasn't expecting you."

"We _weren't_ expecting you," Gracie corrects automatically. She can't even see the cabin boy, since she's on the wrong side of the circle of bound girls.

"Aha!" the boy says triumphantly. "I knew it! Word is the Cap'n said Peter got the boys new mothers."

"How does that prove anything?" Raven asks cynically, eyebrows drawn together.

"Only mothers do that. Correct your language, like."

"I'm not even gonna touch that one," Gracie murmurs to herself, staring into the dark side of the hold.

"Who'd believe it?" The cabin boy says, apparently to nobody in particular. Perhaps he's thinking out loud. "From no mothers on the ship at all to four! Smee an' the crew must be so pleased. But I shan't get to hear any of the stories," he says, a trifle resentfully. "No, it's always, _Polish that brass, you bilge rat,_" and, "_up the mizzenmast with you, lad,_" and,"_swab those decks, you idiot boy!_"

"That's the trouble with Neverland," Nora whispers, craning her neck so that Raven can hear. "No therapists. This kid ought to be locked up."

After a suppressed laugh, Raven speaks. "You're wrong," she tells the boy firmly. "I am _not_ anybody's mother."

"Me neither," Charlie chimes in.

"Well, what about you then?" the boy asks Nora and Gracie.

"That's none of your business," Nora says immediately, somehow managing to look down her nose at the cabin boy standing above her.

Gracie doesn't answer; she can't tell that the question was directed at her too.

"Not answering? A mother, for sure. Could you…" the pause strings out.

"What's going on?" Gracie asks irately. "Are you playing charades back there or something?"

"Sparky here just can't finish his sentences," Nora says. "Big surprise, huh?"

"That's not my name!" the cabin boy objects.

"You haven't been polite enough to tell us what it is," Charlie points out.

"Y- You haven't said your names!" he replies, clearly rattled by this attack on his manners. His free hand (the one not holding the bucket) moves to his ear, where it tugs at a gold earring. Charlie guesses that it's a nervous habit.

"We're prisoners," Raven says condescendingly. "We don't have to be polite!"

The cabin boy pauses for a moment to let this sink into his mind. "I don't have a name," he says, still messing with his earring.

"Well, what do people call you? And stop that, you'll get an infection!" Nora insists. She bites her lip, realizing how maternal it must have sounded.

"GET ON DECK, YA FILTHY WEEVIL!" A pirate hollers down into the hold. "DOUBLE QUICK!"

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Weevil," Raven laughs.

"Call me Lad," the boy says quickly, hoisting up the bucket. "It's the most civil thing they say to me."

"What's that?" Charlie asks, trying to get a look into the bucket. "Our breakfast?"

"Not hardly," Lad guffaws. "It's just sea water." He unceremoniously dumps the entire lot over her head.

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_I am definitely not going to that spot,_ Sallie resolves, doing her best to keep up with the group. _Let Peter handle this his way. That way if he dies, it's his own fault._

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"This is lousy," Alicia says, sulking in the lost boys' cave. "Everyone else is off being captured or scouting out pirates or on a rescue mission, and where am I?"

"Hidden in a secret cave and recovering from a mermaid attack," Falling Shadows says playfully, sticking his head into the cave's opening.

"Hey, buddy! I didn't think I'd see you again. How'd you know where this is?"

"Peter has long been our friend," he explains. "He saved my sister's life."

Alicia nods. "That's right, I keep forgetting! Well, Tiger Lily's brother, come and have a seat. You know, it's not fair. Your name means something."

"Every name means something."

"Well, mine is just Alicia," she objects.

"It means you."

"I'd like a better one. Can you think of something for me?"

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"Ahh!" Charlie splutters, spitting water like a fountain. "What was that… blehh… for?"

"What happened?" Gracie asks earnestly. "Guys, what's going on?"

Lad takes the bucket with him and goes back on deck.

"That little punk just totally soaked Charlie," Raven says for Gracie's benefit. "I got a little wet too."

Quick as a wink, Lad is back in the hold again. He dumps a bucket of water over Nora's head, then goes back up. This happens again and again until all the girls are soaked and mad as heck.

"Why are you doing this?" Nora demands.

"Just washing the pixie dust off," Lad explains.

The girls sit in dumbfounded silence.

"We could have flown," Raven says hollowly. "Why didn't we think of that?"

"It would have been pretty hard with all these ropes, anyway," Gracie says.

"We're new to this," Charlie says, trying to alleviate the group's feeling of stupidity. "I'm sure we'll learn."

"Unless, in all probability, we get killed by pirates before the day is out!" Nora says sharply.

"Well, that's finished," Lad says, dropping the bucket and wiping his hands on each other. "Uh… mothers, could you-"

"Don't call us that," Nora interjects. "It's creepy."

"Do you think you could tell me a story?"

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Peter leads them through the trees and all kinds of weather. Madeline doesn't have time to stop and make a proper snowman while they march through winter, but she grabs a handful of snow and takes wild delight in tossing it at Katrina once they get to a summery spot. Eventually they come to a glade that Sallie is frightened to see looks terribly familiar.

"Almost there," Peter says.

Switch looks up from helping Anna over a log at the forest's edge. "Nice place for an ambush," he says sociably. The girls cluster a bit closer together, and Madeline grabs the hem of Anna's pajama top.

"Be careful, the pirates prowl through here all the time," Peter says. "They might be close." His eyes scan the forest's edge across the glade. "All clear. Maybe," he adds with a small laugh.

"Isn't it exciting?" Blue asks Kaela. "We could be attacked any second!"

Peter walks into the glade. Sallie finds herself close behind, rather appalled to realize that she's instinctually getting closer to the best fighter for purposes of safety.

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"Your name should be everything you are," Falling Shadows says.

"My name should be a blue-eyed brunette?" Alicia jokes.

"You are happy and resilient. And…"

Tinker Bell chooses this moment to leave her apartment and say just what she thinks Alicia is. Fortunately for her, Alicia and Falling Shadows can't understand her incredibly creative and ill-spirited insult, so they don't start chasing her around the cave with blunt objects.

"And pretty," Falling Shadows says at length, once Tink has cooled off a bit and shut herself into her apartment again. Alicia flushes happily. "I like Painted Bird."

"Uh…that's nice, I guess."

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"Why would we tell you a story?" Nora asks. "You just dumped buckets of very cold water on our heads!"

"Orders," Lad answers lamely, fingering his earring again. "I had too!"

"Why are you even with these people?" Gracie asks Lad, twisting around uncomfortably and trying to see his face in vain.

"I couldn't fall out of my pram," Lad says sadly. "When I was a baby I heard about Neverland, and it sounded so wonderful that I thought I'd try to get there. But my nurse never looked away long enough for me to fall out of my pram the proper way. All I could manage was knocking over my high chair. And when you knock over your high chair and aren't claimed in seven days, they make you be a cabin boy," he sighs. "I never wanted to be a pirate. Can you _please_ tell me a story? I haven't heard one in so long. I could be your son, if you need that for the story to work," he offers helpfully.

"I will _never_ be your mother," Nora says harshly, and with a downcast look Lad goes back up on deck.

"That was cruel," Charlie says lightly. "Why'd you say that?"

"Because I'm too attracted to him to be his parent," Nora says sheepishly.

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Once the last of the lost boys steps into the glade, a sharp whistle is heard. Pirates swarm up almost from nowhere, like a sudden fog with tattoos and bad breath.

Peter and the lost boys spring into action; the girls clumsily draw their weapons and do their best to fight off the buccaneers. They do surprisingly well, since although they're certainly not as strong as the pirates are for the most part they're a lot quicker on their feet. Katrina and Anna even have the sense to follow Peter's lead and get some height, counting on pixie dust and happy thoughts to give them an edge. This doesn't occur to Sallie, however. She does manage to slash at a few of the pirates with her dagger, but eventually numbers overwhelm her. They start to carry her off.

"Let me go, you imbecile drunkards!" she screams. She scratches them, slashes, kicks, and does whatever else she can think of to get loose.

"Stop fighting so hard," one of the pirates hisses in her ear. "It just has to look like you're fighting!"

"But I am!" she screams. "HELP! _PETER!_"

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Cliffhanger, LOL!

Please review! Reviews are like watching your favorite couple kiss in the best romantic movie ever! But no flames, flames are like watching your favorite guy character kiss a girl that you don't like!


	12. Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter of **Your Adventure in Neverland**. I have one more chapter planned after this, although it isn't written yet. So there's this chapter, and probably just one more. I've had fun writing it so far, the characters (canon, my own, and the ones that belong to you guys) have been a blast to write.

Shout-outs:

ShortAtntionSpaz – I bet you'll have a lot of fun, this story has been really cool for me to write! (Except for the massive, gigantic spurt of writer's block I had regarding it for… months.) It's such an awesome realm to set stories in, it's very freeing. And the characters are fantastic! Hook and Peter Pan and Tinker Bell and everyone – it's grand fun. : )

PButtercup – Yay, I'm really glad that you like it! You know, I enjoy writing Lad. I'm glad that he's one of my original characters, not somebody I'm borrowing from somebody else. _Gracie Jane pulls Lad out of the story, hugs him for a second and tells him a fairy tale, then _puts_ him back in the story before he's missed._ Here's some more cheddar cheese, LOL!

Sallie – That review was totally classic. _Gracie smiles happily, remembering how she laughed like a maniac when she got that review_. And don't worry, Sallie may not slap Hook, but – well, you'll see, muahaha!

Raven – Here's more! Sometimes my life is totally like that being tied up and not flying thing – I don't realize that there's an easy way to solve a problem until it's no longer an option. I'm glad that you found the story again, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

AnimegirlH – Such is the beauty of cliffhangers – they are evil! In this chapter, the Italian comes out - my syntax might be all wrong, but there's some bilingual-ness ahead. It should be fun, and thank you so much for always reviewing!

Lyz – Thank you, Lyz! Here's the update; I had to edit a thing or two before I could put it up.

Crystalstorm21 – Thank you for reviewing! Here's the next chapter, fortunately with less of a wait then is usual for this story. _Gracie blushes and hides behind the update._

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Disclaimer: I don't own **Peter Pan** or any of the characters, places, and etc. contained therein. Gracie, Madeline, these lost boys, and Lad all belong to me, as does the story and this particular story idea itself. I've stolen some lines from **The Princess Bride**, a movie that I love. Almost all of the orphans (just not Gracie and Madeline) belong to some wonderful girls who were kind enough to let me borrow their characters for this adventure. I'm not making any money from this, so please don't sue me!

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Sallie fights the pirates every step of the way. She's still struggling when they bring her to Hook. His presence is very powerful; she can sense him long before she looks up into his face. It's enough to freeze her in place as the pirates set her free.

"Congratulations," Hook says with a half-smile. "A beautiful performance. Men, clap for our leading lady!" he commands.

The bruised, black-eyed, stabbed, scratched, and bloody pirates remain silent, giving Sallie a look of contempt. The only sound is Smee's cheerful applause and cry of, "Good show, girl!"

"CLAP, YOU DOGS!" The Captain raises his hook threateningly.

Immediately the ship erupts into an ovation.

_Well, now I'm in trouble,_ Sallie thinks, giving a weak smile. _If I act like I've gone back on the plan I'll be thrown in the brig or worse, and if I don't…_

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"Do you guys hear that?" Charlie asks, cocking her head up towards the sound of cheering. "What could be going on?"

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"Now Sallie," Hook says, offering her an arm and leading her to the quarterdeck, "I have a gift for you."

"A gift?" she asks cautiously.

"Yes. Fetch the brats!"

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"Hold still," Anna tells Switch. "I promise, it hurts a lot less that way." The boy tries not to fidget while she finishes tending the gash across his shoulders, but it's difficult for him.

With the exception of Madeline everyone has been hurt in some way or another. The nearest they can figure is that she's so small she escaped notice. Once the bleeding has primarily stopped, Peter leads them toward the _Jolly Roger_.

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Nora, Gracie, Charlie, and Raven are hauled blinking into the sunlight. It's a pretty pathetic sight – their clothes are still damp and they remain bound, surrounded by a press of pirates.

"I knew it would please you to watch them die," Hook tells Sallie in an almost social air. "Which of my men do you want to kill them? Each has his own specialty." The pirates smile crooked-toothed grins, and some hold up various implements of torture.

_Maybe if I **act** like I'm going along with it, I can stall for time until Peter and the others get here,_ Sallie reasons.

"Thank you for the generous offer," Sallie says evenly, "but I'd rather the men did not."

"Shall I do it, then?" Hook asks, flattered that Sallie would like to see them dispensed with his own iron claw.

"I'd…rather they walk the plank," Sallie says.

"Ah, I see. Excellent choice. Who goes first?"

"You've been plotting with him all along," Raven accuses Sallie. "You're nothing but a pirate!"

"Betrayer!" Charlie's voice is low, but her eyes are afire.

"What's wrong with you, Alicia?" Nora asks, looking her square in the face. "He's Hook! The guy's bad news!"

"Shut up," Sallie says. "And Gracie, you're the lucky one. The girl in the blue pajamas," she tells Hook. "I've wanted her dead for years." _And if I can't manage to keep her from actually dying, it's less of a loss._

"If you'll step this way, Miss," Smee tells Gracie, cutting her loose from the others but leaving her hands bound in front of her. "Let's have no unpleasant scenes, now."

The crew rig up the plank as Gracie and the others look on with frightened eyes.

"She'll be drowned," Hook says conversationally. "That is if the sharks don't get her first."

"Sharks?" Gracie yelps. "Sallie, please think about this! I know we're not friends, but do you really want to kill me?"

"Before I do," Sallie says, furiously concocting a plan to stall for time, "there's something I want to tell you." There's a long pause while Sallie decides what to say. It's broken by her launching into a vivid description of every annoying thing that Gracie's ever said or done, and quite a few that she hasn't. She spends the better part of ten minutes in this manner. "And you lied to the others about me. You told Anna and Charlie that I steal things!"

"You do!" Charlie says. "You even stole the bracelet that you're wearing right now!"

Sallie gives a guilty look at her bracelet, then glares back at Charlie. "Shut up! So now, Gracie," Sallie says, scanning the skies and seeing no one, "you're going to die."

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Peter, the lost boys, and the rest of the orphans except Alicia are crouching in bushes with a view of the pirate ship. Peter takes the spyglass from his eye and hands it off to Kaela. She looks through it and leans forward into some ferns.

"It looks like they have Sallie," Peter says. "There are pirates all around her. They've got the others too."

"What's he gonna do to them?" Anna asks.

"Isn't is obvious? He's using them to get to me. But I don't think he'll hurt them, as long as I show up soon."

Slingshot agrees. "He wants his great battle."

"No," Anna says. "He wants Peter dead."

"Um, Peter?" Kaela says, still looking out the spyglass, "I think you might be wrong. About the not hurting them, I mean."

"Why?"

"Well, that looks like Gracie they've got on the plank."

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"Care for a blindfold, dear?" Smee asks, offering one to Gracie.

"No!"

"Off you go then," another pirate says, drawing his cutlass and extending it until Gracie is forced to move out over the water.

_Oh my goodness, I'm getting high dive flashbacks,_ Gracie thinks, feeling the unsteady plank wobble beneath her feet. _And I swore I'd never get out on a board again. So much for that._ "Captain," she says, poorly disguising her desperation, "don't I get any last words?"

"No."

Gracie looks down at the water, teeming with sharks, and decides to take a shot by saying whatever might keep her alive. She takes a deep breath. "Bad form!"

The pirates gasp. Raven and Nora look at each other in shock, then look at Hook to see what he will do.

"You accuse me," he says slowly, "of bad form?"

Having second thoughts, Gracie decides it's best to hold her tongue. _Too late for that now, though_.

"You know she's right," Charlie says, staring gravely.

"Shut up!" Sallie says for the third time, hoping that if Charlie and the others stay quiet maybe Gracie will be the only one to die.

"Very well," Hook tells Gracie at length. "You may speak. Keep it short."

_My last words._ "Um… I do believe in fairies. If any of you survive," she says, looking at her tied-up friends, "tell Peter that I love him."

"I'll be glad to relay the message," Hook says, "just before I cut out his heart."

Ignoring him, Gracie continues. "And I love you guys too. Take care of Madeline. Uh…"

"Nothing more to say? Kill her," Hook says, even as Gracie starts her dying speech up again. A pirate jiggles the close end of the plank violently, and the girl falls with a shriek. Everyone listens for it -

SPLASH!

Charlie lowers her head and bites her lip to keep from screaming.

"No!" Sallie cries, finally giving up on Peter arriving and taking matters into her own hands. She plunges Hook's own knife into him. It's not really a good plunge; the blade has to get through a lot of crushed velvet before hitting skin. But unknowingly, Sallie has triggered Hook's great fear – the sight of his own blood. It's unusually dark, and Sallie is frightened when she sees the dripping blade.

"Kill the children," Hook orders, pressing the wound with his left hand. "Kill them all!"

"I don't think so!" Peter booms in his captain voice, high above the deck, at the same time that Lad does so to Hook's face.

"Peter!" Charlie and Raven say in relief.

"What?" Nora asks Lad in shock.

"I won't let them kill you!"

The lost boys and orphans rush in, weapons at the ready. They've taken the pirates by surprise, which gives them at least some advantage.

Anna cuts a path through several buccaneers and over to the tied girls by karate chopping, tornado kicking, and generally looking like something out of a ninja flick. "Where's Gracie?" she asks, helping Lad to cut through their ropes.

"Dead."

"No!"

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Raven has never actually learned how to use a spear, but she adapts pretty quickly. Whoever you don't stick with it, you bash them over the head. And use the strong wooden handle to parry attacks.

"Nice work," Wildcat says, running his sword through a pirate sneaking up behind her. "But watch that they don't jab you when you're not looking!"

"I'll work on that," Raven says.

"Good, 'cause if you get it wrong even once you don't get another chance," he laughs, moving on to another opponent.

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"Who killed her?"

"Him!" Nora points a finger at the slim, oily-looking pirate who offset the plank's balance.

"Mi chiamano Anna Johnson. Tu hai uccidito la mia amica. Prepararsi a morire." (A/N: that's Italian for, "My name is Anna Johnson. You killed my friend. Prepare to die." And if I'm off a little, hey, I took French!)

"I want a piece of this loser too," Charlie says, cracking her knuckles.

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Sallie's been dodging out of the way of the hook, narrowly escaping death. She pulls back the knife to stab him again, but when she strikes it clangs hard against steel. Pixie dust flies off the weapon and makes Sallie sneeze.

"You promised me!" Peter says, his sword up against the knife so that not counting the blades they're face to face. "He's mine!"

"But-"

"You promised! Now go!" He spins to face Hook.

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Switch successfully polishes off a couple of pirates, taking their weapons and flinging them to Charlie, Nora and Anna. If Anna was dangerous without weapons, she's a force of nature when there's a cutlass in her hand.

Clang!

Ksss!

"Ahh!"

Charlie gets in a good solid stab too. "Take that!"

"Killed by girls," the pirate mutters to himself, then topples overboard.

"Sexist pig," Charlie says without sympathy.

"Serves him right!" Anna shouts after the pirate. She lets out a string of Italian swearwords terrible enough to make a Mediterranean sailor squirm. Switch's head snaps up. "Parli tu Italiano?" (Translation: "You speak Italian?")

"Certo!" (Translation: "Certainly!") Anna calls to him with a grin.

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"Why-" Clash! "-are-" Clang! "-you-" Whoosh! "-fighting-" Krr! "-your-" Clang! "friends?" Nora asks Lad in between attacking pirates.

"I'm not a pirate anymore!" he says, ripping the bandana out of his hair. "Do you hear that, Captain?" He shouts across the deck. "I quit! I'm a lost boy now!"

"Can he do that?" Madeline asks Nora.

"Um, why not?"

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"Help!" Gracie screams. "Somebody? Anybody?"

No, she's not dead! No yet, anyway. But what about that splash? When Gracie fell off the plank, she managed to catch the end of it with her bound hands. (A/N: Which hurts a heck of a lot, and I don't have much upper body strength! Somebody save me _now!_) At that moment one of the sharks decided to jump for her and rip her limb from limb before any of its friends could. Fortunately Gracie's short (A/N: Ha! It's actually good for something!), so the shark couldn't reach her. The splash was the sound of the shark hitting the water when it fell.

"Seriously? I'm losing my grip!"

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The twins are back to back, continually circling and killing pirates as they go. It seems like a pretty good system to Kaela. "Kat, let's try it!"

Black and Blue link elbows, then pull off a complicated series of flips. It works beautifully, and several pirates end up with feet in their faces.

"Great work, bro," Blue says. "I'm glad we've been practicing!"

"You too, and me too!" Black says.

"You think we can do _that_?" Katrina asks Kaela.

"There's no harm in trying, right? Just skip the flippy part." They manage to get their backs together, which frees them up to focus on their swordwork and not freak out about whoever's ready to stab them while they aren't looking.

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"**HELP!**"

"Gracie?" Peter takes another swipe at Hook, then flies over to the sound of screaming. "Wow! How are you even holding on? That's amazing!"

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! That's the sound of the sharks' jaws opening and closing directly beneath Gracie.

"Peter! Just rescue me before I fall **to my death!**"

He laughs. "Don't worry, I got ya."

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At the battle's end Peter deposits Gracie on the deck, where Anna cuts her hands loose. She, Charlie, Raven, Nora, and Lad (who can't fly due to lack of pixie dust) manage to highjack a lifeboat and row to shore, then scatter into the forest. The pirates are too… well, bleeding and/or dead to follow.

"It's always a pleasure, Captain," Peter says, floating above the ship and giving a bow.

"Get out Long Tom!" Hook bellows. "Now!"

"You haven't seen the last of us," Sallie chimes in. That's right, for once she and Peter actually agree on something. "Oh, and Captain? Thank you for the knife!" she says with a huge smile, waving the dark-stained weapon around in the air.

In a fit of laughter, they fly off to their cave, the sound of cannonfire echoing behind them.

Please review guys, reviews are like sleeping in on a Saturday! But no flames, flames are like sleeping in by accident on the first day of school!


	13. The Telling Ends, But Not the Story

Hello everyone! _Gracie Jane grabs all of her readers and reviewers, pulling them into a giant group hug._ This story which started as an odd first chapter posted when I was not thinking very clearly has really been a joy to write. Love all around, and enjoy the last chapter!

Shout-outs:

Sallie – Thank you SO much, Sallie! I want you to know that your reviews have gone a long way to keeping this story going and that the character of Sallie was one of the most interesting to write.

AnimegirlH – Here's the update, and thanks for the Italian compliment! I asked somebody who claims to know the language, threatening them that if they gave me swear words pretending they were what I'd asked for there'd be dire consequences, LOL! Thanks for reviewing so faithfully!

Lyz – Here's the big finale, Lyz! I think I've told you that I love your penname. Well, it's still true!

Crystalstorm21 – The chapter is here. It's been great to write (at least when I didn't have writer's block) and I'm glad that you like it.

Disclaimer: Peter Pan and the places, people, and etc. contained therein are not mine. Gracie, Madeline, Lad, Falling Shadows, and my other original characters do belong to me. Most of the orphans are the property of girls nice enough to let me bring them along on this adventure. I'm not making any money, so please please don't sue!

One might hope to hear that these girls stay in Neverland forever. But that would be getting ahead of ourselves –after many moons, six of them make one last brief visit to the mainland.

"Wow," Sallie says, peering into the dusty, abandoned orphanage through a broken window. "How long have we been gone?"

Nora shrugs, flying up beside Sallie. "I don't know. But if we'd ever let the place get that dusty," she says, looking in the window, "Matron would have tanned our hides!"

"I hope she got fired," Raven says.

Gracie, Anna, and Charlie touch down in the backyard. "Come on, guys," Anna calls. "You have to see this!"

"What's up with those marks on the walls?" Sallie asks. The girls stare at a brown line clearly visible about a foot high on all the walls inside the darkened orphanage.

"That looks like flood damage," Gracie says. "Didn't someone leave a hose turned on inside?" They giggle at the memory, then link arms and stroll around to the front of Anders Orphanage, united by everything they went through there.

They hear a definite sniffle coming from a woman seated on the front steps, the same steps where Sallie was found in infancy. The woman hurriedly blows her nose and wipes her eyes dry when she sees them. "What on earth are you children doing out at this hour?" she asks. "It's at least an hour past midnight! And in your pajamas, too," she says.

"We were just in the neighborhood," Charlie says calmly.

"We used to live here," Anna explains, "once."

"Under Matron Hallis? I've heard that she was terrible to those poor girls," the woman says gravely. She looks like she's in her late twenties, but it's hard to tell because of the light. The moon is only a quarter full tonight.

"That's the one," Raven laughs, climbing a step or two to sit at the woman's side. "No mistaking Matron. I'm Rav- well, I guess it's safe to say now. My name's Michelle Beaufont." The other girls gasp.

Not understanding the reason for their surprise, the woman introduces herself. "My name is Maggie Coleman." A round of introductions follows.

"And what are _you_ doing out here at this hour, Maggie?" Sallie asks her skeptically, leaning on a railing by the stairs.

"It's just – I don't know what I've gotten myself into," the woman says sadly, holding out a piece of paper. Anna takes it and holds it close to her face.

"This is a commission from the City Board of Orphans," Anna says. "To Margaret Coleman, hereafter to be installed as Matron of the Anders Orphanage for Girls."

"Once they get it up to code," Maggie says. "You see, the doctors tell me that I can never have children. This seemed like the next best thing."

"You'll be the new Matron?" Gracie asks.

Maggie nods and her eyes start to tear up again. "I'm worried that I can't do it. What if I don't have enough love for all those girls? It's a huge responsibility."

Charlie catches sight of something on the woman's finger. It could be – it might be! "Miss Coleman, that ring you're wearing?"

Maggie gives a glance down at her hand. "Yes?"

"It's too dark for me to tell, but – I think that button's green."

The woman nods. "It is. I've always had it, since I was a girl."

The orphans exchange glances.

"Somehow," Gracie says, "I think you'll do just fine."

Anna smiles. "Me too. I can feel it in my bones."

"Well, we'd best be heading home," Raven says, getting to her bare feet. "Don't want them to worry about us."

"You've all been adopted by the same family?" Maggie asks in wonder. "The six of you?"

"You might say that," Anna says.

"Yeah. We've all found the same home," Charlie agrees.

"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Coleman!"

"Wait!" Nora says. "I…uh, I left something at the… oh, just come with me!" The girls follow Nora around to the back of the orphanage, leaving Maggie sitting in bewilderment.

"What was that about?" Raven demands.

"Gracie, do you remember which rafter it was?" Nora asks.

Gracie's face is totally blank for a minute. Finally, the memory returns. "Oh, I do! Come on!" The two of them fly up into the attic bedroom through a busted window.

"What are they looking for?" Sallie asks the others.

There's a big grin on Anna's face. "You'll see."

"Oh, there you are," Maggie says a few minutes later. "I thought you'd all scampered off into the night."

"We wanted to give you this," Nora says, presenting the woman with a yellowed old hardcover.

Maggie wipes the dust off of it. "Peter Pan," she reads aloud.

"You'll read it to the girls, won't you?" Gracie asks.

Maggie smiles. "Every night."

"Remember to make Hook really terrible," Sallie interjects. "Most people don't read his lines right. You have to boom them!"

"And Peter has a Captain voice," Nora says. "It's different from his normal one, so you've got to try to make it count."

"And crowing doesn't sound like a rooster," Anna advises, "it's more like this!" She gives a pretty weak imitation of Peter's crow, but it's enough to get the idea across.

"Remember to tell them how beautiful the _Jolly Roger_ is too," Charlie says. "With lots of paint, carvings and polished brass."

"And Tinker Bell doesn't actually die," Gracie says, "so you might as well skip that part."

A storm of other directions for telling the story correctly follows. Maggie listens to them all, apparently willing to do her best. "I don't want to keep you out all night," she says finally. "Your family must be worried sick."

They bid their goodbyes and fly home.

.

.

.

Neverland has rarely been more active in its entire history. For the most part, the orphans are all quite happy.

Alicia spends half her time in the Indian Encampment, where Falling Shadows is attempting to teach her his people's traditional Love Dance. Tiger Lily thinks it's hysterical to see her brother so nuts over a girl.

"Falling Shadows, do you think I'll ever figure this out?" Alicia asks, stumbling through the complicated footwork yet another time. She trips and falls into his arms.

"Do you know how I got my name?" he asks, helping her right herself.

"No."

"I spent weeks practicing the Healing Dance, sometimes until darkness fell. These things take practice!"

"No kidding," Alicia says, smiling up at him. "Well, we've got the time. Show me again?"

.

.

.

Kaela and Katrina have finally found partners in crime. Together with the twins they've become the practical jokers of the island.

"Blue, do you have the feathers?" Katrina asks in an excited whisper.

"Got 'em!"

"And we've got the sap," Kaela and Black say, coming up behind with coconut shells filled with the sticky stuff.

"Hook's gonna be so mad!" Katrina giggles, and together they sneak off further into the forest.

.

.

.

Nora and Lad are… well, this should give you an idea.

"Lad, what are you doing?" Nora asks, coming up behind the newly made lost boy.

"Carving something," he says guardedly.

"What?"

"A tree," Lad guffaws, pleased with his own joke.

"_Lad_."

He steps to the side and lets her see. **Lad & Nor**, it says inside a heart.

"Oh, how sweet!" Nora says, breaking out into a smile. "But Lad? My name ends with an A."

"I know that," he says, "but you found me before I had time to finish!"

.

.

.

Anna and Switch seem to be in some kind of a relationship, but it's difficult for the others to tell since the majority of what they say to each other is in Italian.

"What's going on, everyone?" Peter asks, entering the cave with Tinker Bell on his shoulder.

Switch says something brief and Anna, looking up from sewing pockets onto something, stifles a giggle.

"They've been like this all day," Madeline tells Peter. "If one person with two tongues is a lot, two two-tongued people in the same cave is silly!"

.

.

.

Raven and Wildcat are also getting along rather well. Nothing's been declared officially, but they're always pairing off to practice swordfighting.

"You're guard's too low," Wildcat says for the millionth time, raising his voice above the clang of metal blades.

"Who cares about guard?" Raven asks carelessly, attacking with spirit. "Offense is way more interesting! Take that!"

"Ravy!" he laughs, fending off the blows.

.

.

.

All of the aforementioned couples are (eventually) quite happy to discover that in Neverland, every kiss is the first kiss.

Life is great for the other orphans too. Anders follows Madeline everywhere, and there are days when he actually does double as a pony for her. Charlie gets to be part of more adventures than she'd ever dreamed of back at the orphanage. Gracie watches her stories come to life every day, which is more than any storyteller could ask for. And as for Sallie, she's finally gotten everything she's ever wanted in a man – a worthy opponent.

"Hook, get on deck, you coward!" she cries, soaring high over the _Jolly Roger_.

"Yeah, can the codfish come out and play?" Peter asks, knocking a pirate out of the crow's nest and taking up residence there himself.

"I'll get you for this, Pan!" Hook threatens, coming out of his cabin covered with sap and feathers. Peter and Sallie burst out laughing.

"I'd love to take credit for that Captain," Peter gets out between laughing so hard that his ribs hurt, "but it wasn't me!"

"It was us!" The twins, Kaela and Katrina announce, appearing from behind a sail and shrieking with glee when they see that their plan worked.

.

.

.

Each night Matron Coleman, more commonly called Mama Maggie, reads to the girls she loves like her daughters. She tells them stories about Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Tinker Bell. Sometimes she even tells them the story of the girls who lived in Anders Orphanage long ago, when the wicked Matron Hallis was in charge and worked them to the bone. The new orphans love to hear about how Peter Pan came and led them away to the Neverland, where they have hundreds of adventures all the time. And every now and then whenever a new girl appears, so does a green button on the windowsill.

But our story is not about these orphans. For the ones we know and love there are no more grown-up problems or worries. There are only pirates, Indians, NeverNeverland, and a boy named Peter Pan.

Please read and review, everyone! I hope that you enjoyed Your Adventure in Neverland. Remember that reviews are like lollipops! But no flames, flames are like when you drop your lollipop in the sand!

P.S. – If any of you would like to write one of my characters into a Peter Pan story (so long as my character doesn't grow up and Peter doesn't grow up, which would just be depressing, and there's no slash, which I can't stand), feel free to e-mail and ask. You know what? Just e-mail me to talk if you like. I love you guys!


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